In for the kill..
What we have here is essentially the 'M' Interceptor sewer
It forms part of the City of Manchester's initial interceptor scheme which dates back to 1889 of which initially 21 intercepting sewers were constructed to deal with the extra capacity and prevent further pollution to the rivers
This particular system was extended somewhere circa 1894 at a time when the City council extended it's boundaries
Ranging from a 3ft brick egg upstream to a maximum height of around 5ft on the downstream stretch before it eventually joins one of the cities main outfall sewers
It's becoming increasingly harder now to document some of these systems as access isn't often straight forward, most of which being traffic sensitive or access simply out of reach or unsafe due to age
I've been chipping away at the various systems over the past few years, this being one of them
It gave me a right headache fathoming it out, as useful lids were hard to locate and newer sewers have been added in later years, both taking away and contributing to the flow along it's course
Many of the older interceptors consist of small pipe diameters, the majority of which are impossible to traverse, and these day's only accessible and surveyed by CCTV from the saftey of a van by a 12 man team with polystyrene cups
There aren't many places you can drop in for a look on this one without a lot of fuss, and much of what is available has had a facelift over the years
(including the bit's I haven't bothered to obtain suitable photatoes of)
pic taken by Nick
It was quite puzzling initially to see minimal flow within a stretch of the mid section of the system, much of what we saw further downstream consisted of flow from foul connections and other local sewers joining in
A stretch of the older mid section appears more of a relief sewer these days, as much of the flow has been diverted into one of the newer interceptors (constructed in the 1900's) further upstream
This includes a modified and additional storm overflows which have been retrofitted along the way to cope with the extra capacity, as the original system had become inadequate..
The first real bit we could gain access for a look in was on the upstream end, not far from where it officially starts according to the main drainage maps
Here, a 7m precast shaft allows access to the sewer below, also another sewer has since been added
The shaft also appears to act as some form of detention tank to ease the strain on the system
The line continues downstream through what's left of the original 3ft brick egg at this point
I struggled like f00k kneeling in 50 shades of shit to get the above pics ^, it was minging!
Next, we dropped in further downstream via a 4m shaft which lands at the side of the sewer on a narrow ledge
A smaller precast chamber has since been added here, before the sewer travels a short distance into what would have been an original overflow offering relief via the river when at capacity
The incoming sewer at this point is a 3.5ft brick egg, just about visible behind the wall
Downstream, the sewer has been further modified..
What was once an older brick overflow has now been upgraded to cope with increased storm flows and rapid surface run off that occurs in the surrounding area
Here you can see the modified line as it sits 70/30 within a 40ft drop shaft
It also serves as a detention tank when the system is at capacity during heavy periods of rainfall
*Note, the flow is minimal on this stretch as it's diverted into one of the later addition of interceptors further upstream (detailed further in the thread)
Beyond, a long ladder down to the original brick overflow, which has since been modified
Once down, you can see the original 3ft brick overflow situated at the bottom of the shaft
(pic c/o Nick)
I had to return for some of the above pics as Nick decided to break my tripod as he lowered it down the shaft from above
I say break, somehow it fell apart leaving his grip and plummeting down the shaft I was climbing down, it was a close shave and luckily the camera was still attached to the bit he had hold of
No sooner was I down and the meter started singing poor oxygen levels, it was a right bag of fail!
On a return visit to the area, we went in search of more lids, this was a right pain as after pissing about in all sorts of terrain and being none the wiser it took a further trip to locate what we needed to continue..
Here the original sewer has been diverted into and down another large diameter shaft
A long ladder down drops on a ledge as the sewer runs through below
Again, minimal flow as explained further above ^^^
The next we see of it is further downstream, as lids were impossible to locate, and the ones we did find were too traffic sensitive and not ideal
Also, the flow picks up quite a bit downstream as local sewers join and foul connections from nearby properties connect
The one lid we did locate was a no go, although a nice brick shaft, the step irons were knackered so we gave that up as a bad idea and carried on downstream
As I explained earlier, the reason for the lack of flow on the mid section is due to the original flow being diverted further upstream into one of the newer scheme of interceptors constructed in the 1900's
I attempted to twice grab a pic at the point where the older interceptor joins the newer one, it was near on impossible due to the flow
The side passage was narrow and slippery also making positioning the camera a right faff, as I leant out to extend a leg into the fresh, the safety rail popped out of the brick work and I nearly ended being washed away!
It was getting silly and I only managed one useable pic
A decision was made to return at some point soon in order to try a different approach, however on said return trip I had to GTFO quicktime as the H2S levels were rising faster than I could climb the ladder out
Apologies for the quality, but you can just about make out where the older interceptor joins on the left via a 3ft brick egg
Finally, the last place I could be bothered with following it before it eventually flows into the Outfall sewer South of the city was another CSO
Well that's about it, having survived high levels of H2S, low levels of o2 and nearly being killed off by Nick with my late Manfrotto it was good to finally see this place off
What we have here is essentially the 'M' Interceptor sewer
It forms part of the City of Manchester's initial interceptor scheme which dates back to 1889 of which initially 21 intercepting sewers were constructed to deal with the extra capacity and prevent further pollution to the rivers
This particular system was extended somewhere circa 1894 at a time when the City council extended it's boundaries
Ranging from a 3ft brick egg upstream to a maximum height of around 5ft on the downstream stretch before it eventually joins one of the cities main outfall sewers
It's becoming increasingly harder now to document some of these systems as access isn't often straight forward, most of which being traffic sensitive or access simply out of reach or unsafe due to age
I've been chipping away at the various systems over the past few years, this being one of them
It gave me a right headache fathoming it out, as useful lids were hard to locate and newer sewers have been added in later years, both taking away and contributing to the flow along it's course
Many of the older interceptors consist of small pipe diameters, the majority of which are impossible to traverse, and these day's only accessible and surveyed by CCTV from the saftey of a van by a 12 man team with polystyrene cups
There aren't many places you can drop in for a look on this one without a lot of fuss, and much of what is available has had a facelift over the years
(including the bit's I haven't bothered to obtain suitable photatoes of)
pic taken by Nick
It was quite puzzling initially to see minimal flow within a stretch of the mid section of the system, much of what we saw further downstream consisted of flow from foul connections and other local sewers joining in
A stretch of the older mid section appears more of a relief sewer these days, as much of the flow has been diverted into one of the newer interceptors (constructed in the 1900's) further upstream
This includes a modified and additional storm overflows which have been retrofitted along the way to cope with the extra capacity, as the original system had become inadequate..
The first real bit we could gain access for a look in was on the upstream end, not far from where it officially starts according to the main drainage maps
Here, a 7m precast shaft allows access to the sewer below, also another sewer has since been added
The shaft also appears to act as some form of detention tank to ease the strain on the system
The line continues downstream through what's left of the original 3ft brick egg at this point
I struggled like f00k kneeling in 50 shades of shit to get the above pics ^, it was minging!
Next, we dropped in further downstream via a 4m shaft which lands at the side of the sewer on a narrow ledge
A smaller precast chamber has since been added here, before the sewer travels a short distance into what would have been an original overflow offering relief via the river when at capacity
The incoming sewer at this point is a 3.5ft brick egg, just about visible behind the wall
Downstream, the sewer has been further modified..
What was once an older brick overflow has now been upgraded to cope with increased storm flows and rapid surface run off that occurs in the surrounding area
Here you can see the modified line as it sits 70/30 within a 40ft drop shaft
It also serves as a detention tank when the system is at capacity during heavy periods of rainfall
*Note, the flow is minimal on this stretch as it's diverted into one of the later addition of interceptors further upstream (detailed further in the thread)
Beyond, a long ladder down to the original brick overflow, which has since been modified
Once down, you can see the original 3ft brick overflow situated at the bottom of the shaft
(pic c/o Nick)
I had to return for some of the above pics as Nick decided to break my tripod as he lowered it down the shaft from above
I say break, somehow it fell apart leaving his grip and plummeting down the shaft I was climbing down, it was a close shave and luckily the camera was still attached to the bit he had hold of
No sooner was I down and the meter started singing poor oxygen levels, it was a right bag of fail!
On a return visit to the area, we went in search of more lids, this was a right pain as after pissing about in all sorts of terrain and being none the wiser it took a further trip to locate what we needed to continue..
Here the original sewer has been diverted into and down another large diameter shaft
A long ladder down drops on a ledge as the sewer runs through below
Again, minimal flow as explained further above ^^^
The next we see of it is further downstream, as lids were impossible to locate, and the ones we did find were too traffic sensitive and not ideal
Also, the flow picks up quite a bit downstream as local sewers join and foul connections from nearby properties connect
The one lid we did locate was a no go, although a nice brick shaft, the step irons were knackered so we gave that up as a bad idea and carried on downstream
As I explained earlier, the reason for the lack of flow on the mid section is due to the original flow being diverted further upstream into one of the newer scheme of interceptors constructed in the 1900's
I attempted to twice grab a pic at the point where the older interceptor joins the newer one, it was near on impossible due to the flow
The side passage was narrow and slippery also making positioning the camera a right faff, as I leant out to extend a leg into the fresh, the safety rail popped out of the brick work and I nearly ended being washed away!
It was getting silly and I only managed one useable pic
A decision was made to return at some point soon in order to try a different approach, however on said return trip I had to GTFO quicktime as the H2S levels were rising faster than I could climb the ladder out
Apologies for the quality, but you can just about make out where the older interceptor joins on the left via a 3ft brick egg
Finally, the last place I could be bothered with following it before it eventually flows into the Outfall sewer South of the city was another CSO
Well that's about it, having survived high levels of H2S, low levels of o2 and nearly being killed off by Nick with my late Manfrotto it was good to finally see this place off
Excellent stuff. 
