Boris Johnson opens new 'super sewer' Lee Tunnel

Boris Johnson opened London's new multi-million pound ‘super sewer’ today, in an underground ceremony that involved him flushing a toilet.

On his visit to the Lee Tunnel, the Mayor of London said: "It is an amazing achievement for British engineering.

"It is expensive and I understand people's concerns about that but in the end the real cost, it seems to me, is the cost to our city, to the environment, of not doing it.

"The Victorians were very ambitious - our generation should be similarly ambitious."

The 4.3 mile-long tunnel took four years to build and cost £678 million, it is designed to stop sewage flushing into the River Thames and River Lee.

The project will be followed by the construction of a larger ‘super sewer’, Thames Tideway Tunnel, later this year.

Thames Water's managing director of waste water, Lawrence Gosden, assured that there will be minimal financial impact on Londoners.

Gosden said: "For this tunnel and everything that we are currently doing, there is no additional payment.

Londoners will see an increase in their water bill for the Thames Tunnel, due to begin construction in 2016.

Gosden added: “The sister project, which will be just starting construction very shortly, will add about £25 to customers' bills.”