Mind The Crap From the Dish

Sally Aldee fell in the Thames and gashed her leg, a prospect that horrified every medical professional she met. She subsequently traced the river's pollution from Victorian times to today:

The river – which by the way was both the source of the city’s drinking water and the repository for all its poop – became choleric and pestilent. In the summer of 1858, the fumes became so bad they got a name. The "Great Stink" forced members of Parliament to write the legislation that gave the all-clear to Joseph Bazalgette, London’s chief engineer of public works, to build the two massive interceptor sewers that catch London’s sewage and run-off before they’re belched into the Thames. To this day, these brick and mortar Victorian artifacts comprise the backbone of London’s sewer system. ...

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/12/mind-the-crap.html