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| One of the biggest “fatbergs” ever seen in Britain, a ball of fat as long as three soccer pitches, is seen after it was found blocking a Victorian-era, east London sewer, in an image handed out by Thames Water, September 12, 2017. Thames Water handout via REUTERS |
One of the biggest โfatbergsโ ever seen in Britain – a ball of fat as long as three soccer pitches – has been found blocking a Victorian-era, east London sewer.
โItโs a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery to remove,โ said Thames Waterโs head of waste networks, Matt Rimmer. โItโs one of the largest weโve ever seen.โ
The rock-solid mass of wet wipes, nappies, fat and oil weighs as much as 10 double-decker buses.
Work in Whitechapel to remove the blockage started this week and involves an eight-strong crew using jet hoses to break up the mass before sucking it out with a tanker.
โItโs basically like trying to break up concrete,โ said Rimmer. โItโs frustrating as these situations are totally avoidable and caused by fat, oil and grease being washed down sinks and wipes flushed down the loo.โ
โBin it, donโt block itโ was the message, he added.
Four years ago a similar but smaller fatberg was found in a sewer in Kingston, southwest of London.
Fatberg
A very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets.
