The engineer behind a new super sewer which could be built in Chiswick has vowed no final decision would be made without proper public consultation.
There is a great deal of controversy about the location of one of the Thames Tidal Tunnel's main entrance shafts with Dukes Meadows having been touted as a possible site.
But Thames Water's lead engineer Phil Stride told an audience at Chiswick Pier House that a decision on the selected site would not be made for around two years and only after wide public consultation.
A tunnel under the river was chosen as the best option to prevent the kind of fish deaths experienced in August 2004 (pictured) when torrential storms in central London saw up to 600,000 tonnes of untreated sewage being discharged into the Thames causing the deaths of thousands of fish in a single day.
Lucinda MacPherson, of the Chiswick Pier Trust, said: "[Mr Stride] said the first step is to agree a method for selection with local councils, then investigate a wide range of sites for suitability, whittling these down to a short list in around a year's time."
Guests at the talk last week heard how the works area of the shaft would cover two to three football pitches, and how waste from the 18-mile long sceptic tank would be bought up the shaft and removed by barges.
Work is planned to start in 2012 and the tunnel has to be in commission by summer 2020 in order to comply with EU regulations on water quality.
