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A colleague was invited along with the great and good in the water industry to the official naming of Thames Water's two marvellous new "skimmer" vessels last night. As an ex-sailor, he was intrigued to see if the Heath Robinson devices rigged up by Thames water engineers to break the bubbly over the bows actually worked, as it is considered bad luck if the bottle doesn't smash first go. Their efforts weren't helped by the fact that the bottles had to be wrapped in cling film to prevent broken glass "polluting" the river.
Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency, was first up on Thames Clearwater I, and unfortunately she took two goes to smash the champagne to cheers from the assembled throng. Next up was Debbie Leach, chief executive of environmental charity Thames21, who had the same result on Thames Clearwater II.
No doubt the old maritime superstition won't affect the Dutch-built boats, which are the first of a kind and designed to skim sewage and other surface detritus after London's infamous Bazalgette combined sewer overflows are overwhelmed by heavy rain and discharge into the river.
Thames Water chief executive David Owens admitted that the boats are part of an "interim solution" to the CSO problem that will only be overcome with the construction of the mammoth Thames Tideway storage tunnel under the river. Ever the wag, Dame Barbara commented that Bazalgette had been immortalised by his sewer system and perhaps the Tideway should be dubbed the "Owens super sewer", a suggestion modestly declined by Owens.
