The Great Stink of 2026? Hot, dry summer leaves London holding its nose
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- London's sewers have been emitting a persistent stench for weeks this summer amid temperatures exceeding 30C and minimal rainfall, with the article drawing a direct parallel to Disraeli's description of the Great Stink of 1858.
- Prof Barbara Evans of Leeds University likened the sewer network to a "giant intestine," explaining that drought keeps fermenting sewage in the pipes where microbes release a "cocktail of methane, hydrogen sulphide, and nitrous oxide" — a system that "farts and burps."
- Simon Clarke of the University of Reading confirmed that heat accelerates microbial decomposition, and noted that the same bacteria produce the "petrichor" smell of summer rain once precipitation finally returns.
- Simon Birkett, founder of Clean Air in London, said the stench is especially strong near stormwater drains and predicted the public will remember the "summer of 2026" for this "toxic stench."
- Evans warned that accumulated methane in sewers is inflammable, but said the current smell is a "public wellbeing and pleasantness issue" rather than a public health risk.
- Evans recommended separating grey water from black water and reusing rainwater — systems being introduced in Sweden and Germany — saying the UK must "rebuild the system to cope with our new reality of both hotter and drier periods and wetter periods."
Why it matters: London's sewer network, unchanged since Victorian engineer Joseph Bazalgette's 1858 redesign, is straining under a climate of hotter droughts and heavier downpours. Evans's call for grey/black water separation — already being adopted in Sweden and Germany — would require generational infrastructure investment and a national conversation the public has historically avoided, with accumulated methane posing an emerging flammability risk if unaddressed.
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