GREAT STINK OF LONDON (PB)

In the sweltering summer of 1858, sewage generated by over two million Londoners was pouring into the Thames, producing a stink so offensive that it drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons. Drastic measures were required to clean the Thames and to improve London’s primitive system of sanitation. Sir Joseph Bazalgette, an engineer, rose to the challenge and built the system of intercepting sewers, pumping stations and treatment works that serves London to this day.