Does anybody know anything about the Upton storm tanks near the fender? They are suitated at the back of Weybourne Close and are huge. Also as the fender passes under the spurs of the M53/A551 there used to be the remains of bridges in the form of steel girders, these seemed to have pre-dated the motorway but have since been removed (just the concrete left). Was there a road here at some point that went between Moreton and the Ford area? (will try and post some pics).
This was looked at once before HERE but no conclusion was reached.
The only sign of anything is the sewage works which has two spreader/filter tanks and one enclosed tank which I guess is either a biodegrading tank or possibly a UV tank to kill of bacteria.
The sewage works is marked as Storm Water Tanks on some modern detailed maps.
The field to the immediate NW of the sewage works has a raised embankment, but I guess this is just to hide the sewage works, similar in manner to the row of trees by Upton Park Drive.
The 1970's aerials show no trace of anything other than the motorway being built and the two spreader tanks.
Might go for a wander tomorrow and have a look around.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
sewage works? I was pushed into one of them back in the 70s on a very hot summers day, I didn't alf pen and ink, didn't taste nice ether honked my guts up all the way home, (Can taste it now)
I've noticed that a large amount of services run down Woodchurch road; electricity, old reddifusion, gas, sewers, fibre optic, you name it. The sewers appear to end up running along the banks of the fender adjacent to the railway. Lots of large manhole covers. I'd assume this would follow the natural geography of the valley and appear to end up going towards upton.
I've been in the upton works myself back in the late 80's, pretty dangerous place. Lots of open pipes in the ground to get stuck in.
There seems to be cuttings in the motorway bridges underneath the fender for lights and some old wiring down there. Perhaps these were plans for a path or road that never materialised. Apparently the Sandbrook estate was never fully completed and was designed to go on the fields near the fender.
I know that there is a large tank to the right of the shell garage in moreton that deals with an underground stream that runs near Chapelhill Road. It's mentioned in an old history book I have.
Upton Storm Tanks are three tanks (two open and one covered) to store excess storm water from the sewer until the flow in the sewer falls to a level where the returned water will not over fill the sewer. The tank in Neil_c link is the covered tank being built a couple of years ago the central column holds water under vacuum until the tank is empty and then is used to flush the bottom of the tank. There is no process at the storm tank site apart from some rough screening.
I think it's madness that they still keep building houses on floodplains. Tonnes of concrete and tarmac ensures that almost all the water doesn't get soaked up by the land but ends up in rivers. Upton can really stink on some days.
Funny that when my nan lived by a similar works on the East Lancs, North West Water used to claim the smell was extremely good for you!
The two top tanks are open top storm water storage tanks, the bridges you can see are scraper to clean the floor of the tank when they empty. the third smaller tank is covered because it has an ionised air odour control system. the structures to the left of the building are 6mm screens.
Went on an explore with TC here tonight, it is quite complex what goes on, there appears to be a sewage drain (it ronks) running parallel to the Fender coming from Woodchurch which heads into (or out of) the works, probably into the grey boxes near the brick building. The outfall from the works into the fender does not smell, even inside the culvert. The two older tanks certainly do wiff but as pointed out above do not have spreader arms but what looks like flushing tubes heading down below the surface. Pictures will be put on a UE thread because we covered much more than this area.
We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn
I noticed that the large grey square pipe that comes out of the works and crosses the fender (right next to the outfall) has bits of concrete missing on the top and you can actually see the waste water going away from the plant towards the Ford estate. Not sure where it heads from there.
