My project investigates the mismanagement of rainfall within the urban environment of London. Drain covers are the thresholds of failure and the perforated node which expose this mismanagement. Once a feat of engineering, it has now become an agent in the process of water deluge across the city. Focusing on the two areas struck worst by the flash floods in London of July 2021 (Notting Hill and Waltham Forest), I visually map the drain covers that are located on the affected streets, focusing on particular details, patterns, manufacturer’s information, handles, to create negative and positive cyanotype prints corresponding to the cause of the flooding.

The failures of these boroughs’ sewer systems come with contrasting issues. On July 12th Kensington and Chelsea’s drainage system could not cope with the amount of rainfall and the drain cover accelerated the surface water flooding,¹ whereas on the 25th in Waltham Forest more rain fell than the drains could handle despite the sewer system in some locations still having the capacity to mitigate flooding.² This  created large bodies of stagnant water in the  streets. The drain cover is too permeable in K&C, whilst impermeable in Waltham Forest - it is a ‘threshold of failure’ that either acts as a fire hose increasing the speed of flooding, or a plug that won’t allow water to drain into the sewer system. I intend to play with the negative/ positive image to help disseminate the direction of water flow through this threshold.

Flooding in London is always a risk. The new ‘super sewer’ opening this year only buys the city 60-70 additional years (in preventing flooding and the mixture of rainwater and sewage) as weather becomes more extreme and common.³ Theo Thomas from campaign group, ‘London Waterkeeper’ argues that more attention should be focused towards “areas that would soak up the rain rather than rush it off the streets and … the roofs straight into the sewers”.⁴ It was reported that five times as much sewage entered the Thames last year due to these extreme weather occurrences.⁵

¹ JBA Consulting (2022) Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Section 19 Flood Investigation: 12 July 2021. Available at: https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/environment/flooding-and-extreme-weather/july-2021-flooding-event (Accessed: 05 January 2025).

² (2022) London Borough of Waltham Forest Flood Investigation Report Borough-wide, Sunday 25th July and 7/8th August 2021. rep. Waltham Forest Council. Available at: https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2022-02/Section%2019%20Report%20July_August%202021_DRAFT.pdf.

³ Fisher, J. (2024) Thames Tideway Tunnel Super Sewer completed, BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68464798 (Accessed: 05 January 2025).

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Mayor calls out ‘scandalous’ five-fold increase in sewage dumped into London’s rivers (2024) London City Hall. Available at: https://www.london.gov.uk/Mayor%20calls%20out%20%E2%80%98scandalous%E2%80%99%20five-fold%20increase%20in%20sewage%20dumped%20into%20London%E2%80%99s%20rivers (Accessed: 05 January 2025).