Two of the more ornate stations, Abbey Mills in Stratford and Crossness on the Erith Marshes, with architectural designs from the consultant engineer, Charles Driver, are listed for protection by English Heritage. To aid the drainage, pumping stations were placed to lift the sewage from lower levels into higher pipes.

Work on high-, mid- and low-level systems for the new Northern and Southern Outfall Sewers started at the beginning of 1859 and lasted until 1875. The authorities accepted a proposal from the civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette to move the effluent eastwards along a series of interconnecting sewers that sloped towards outfalls beyond the metropolitan area. The smell, and fears of its possible effects, prompted action from the national and local administrators who had been considering possible solutions for the problem. The miasma from the effluent was thought to transmit contagious diseases, and three outbreaks of cholera before the Great Stink were blamed on the ongoing problems with the river. The problem had been mounting for some years, with an ageing and inadequate sewer system that emptied directly into the Thames. The Great Stink was an event in Central London during July and August 1858 in which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. Death rows on the Thames, claiming the lives of victims who have not paid to have the river cleaned up.

The great stink by clare clark