Vent0r

Rochdales answer to the Works drain




I've had my eye on this place for a while and never got around to checking it out due to my recent injury

Credits to Concrete Jungle for getting here and aptly named it 'Ventor' - Nice one man was worth the effort getting in


A large stone dressed RBP pokes out alongside the river bank, initially the setup looks much like that of the Works drain in Manchester




Plan A - I started out trying to enter through a manhole on the compound, only to be watched by some local scroat... FAIL


Plan B - The river is only thigh deep, however depth perception fail at the outfall was lulZ as I sank fast into much deeper fresh waterZ

I managed to scramble up into the overflow, but not without a soaking as my wad0rs are now even more fooked & leaky!


Once inside, the system has clearly been modernised and after a short mooch the brick soon gives way to a 2.5M concrete box, with a 5ft RCP overflow ahead and a larger 8ft overflow passage to the right




This system is quite different to what I have seen before, it's kind of a twin CSO, one of which contains a screening chamber for all those lovely toilet goodies


I first headed into the main chamber on the right




After a bit of fuss with a seized hatch above some ladders I was up above the trunk sewer




The vented utilities building I was now stood in, was effectively a temple of fresh with a 3M trunk sewer flowing through it before splitting in two and heading down towards the sewage works

Below I could crawl under the sewer which led to a second overflow from the screening chamber - SEE BELOW




I wandered back to the 5ft RCP, which took a sharp 90 degree turn into a screening chamber




At the other side of the overflow were 2 processors spanning the sewer below





I even saw a frog flailing about as it was swept away in a torrent of arse soup... badtimes, I thought about calling the RSPCA