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Sewer Fatbergs (Giant Fat & Refuse Clogs)

I lost weight recently. I wondered where all the fat went... :D
 
Waste weighing the same as 2,000 hippos causes a stink for Hampshire's sewerage system

by James Johnson, Senior Reporter

ONE quick flush and they are gone.
But what many don’t realise is that flushing wet wipes and cotton wool down the toilet is causing a big problem for Hampshire's sewerage system.
A shocking 6,000 tons – the same weight as 2,000 hippos – of sanitary products and other sewerblocking materials were found in the waste water system beneath Hampshire.
Items including sanitary products, cotton wool and cotton buds can block sewers and cause serious problems, including the potential for flooding or pollution of homes and gardens.

Across the whole of the Southern Water network more than 6,000 tons of “blockers” were found between April and November 2014.
Sean Woodward, Hampshire County Council executive member for economy, transport and environment, claimed that the result of putting the wrong products down the toilet can be “literally explosive”.

Mr Woodward said: “I’m not surprised – people don’t seem to take a great deal of care about what they flush down the toilets. No product other than toilet tissue should be put down the toilet.
“It costs Southern Water a vast amount of money to clear this up. I have seen it myself when this happens.
“At these sewage pumping stations the blockage can be literally explosive.”

Other than sanitary products, the biggest enemy of the sewers is cooking fat being poured down drains, which solidifies over time.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/117...causes_a_stink_for_Hampshire_s_sewer_network/

Helpfully, the page provides a photo of a hippo... :rolleyes:
But I need to know how many elephants are equivalent to 2,000 hippos... ;)
 
Now that it's gone viral, there's nothing left to do but to go on display ...

Museum bids to acquire huge 'fatberg' clogging London sewer
London's monster fatberg may be destined for a museum.

The Museum of London says it is trying to acquire a chunk of the 130 metric ton (143 U.S. ton) mass of oil, fat, diapers and baby wipes currently clogging one of the city's Victorian sewers.

Utility company Thames Water is trying to dislodge the smelly blob, which is 250 meters (820 feet) long, by breaking it up with high-powered hoses. They say the process could take weeks.

Museum director Sharon Ament said Wednesday that adding the fatberg to its collection "would raise questions about how we live today and also inspire our visitors to consider solutions to the problems of growing metropolises."

The museum hopes to obtain a cross-section of the fatberg. It hasn't decided how it would be displayed.

SOURCE: http://abcnews.go.com/Weird/wireSto...e-huge-fatberg-clogging-london-sewer-49816853
 
"The museum hopes to obtain a cross-section of the fatberg. It hasn't decided how it would be displayed."

For some reason, I read these sentences and thought I was hearing the first minutes of a very bad Sci-Fi story.

It's a long, hot summer . . . the carefully-controlled heating goes down . . . before you know it, the fatberg is oozing its way up Big Ben, pelting helicopters with condoms and nappies . . . :hspin:
 
They should recycle it. Biodiesel.
 
A giant fatberg has been discovered in Sidmouth.

The Guardian article has a photograph of the lovely thing, as well as a graphic to illustrate its size as a multiple of buses.

These sewer-tumours seem to be symptomless until they have grown gigantic. You would expect the flow through these tubes would be monitored. It all makes me wonder what else might be lurking down there! :domo:

Edit 03.27 pm. I see we have an earlier thread on Sewer Fat here.

Interestingly, it comes to an end with a 2005 tale about the eruption of raw sewage from the toilet of a Devon home. South West Water "said the sewer blockage was caused by people's "irresponsible" disposal of fat into the sewers and it was not liable for the damage." :sstorm:
 
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A giant fatberg has been discovered in Sidmouth.

The Guardian article has a photograph of the lovely thing, as well as a graphic to illustrate its size as a multiple of buses.

These sewer-tumours seem to be symptomless until they have grown gigantic. You would expect the flow through these tubes would be monitored. It all makes me wonder else might be lurking down there! :domo:

Edit 03.27 pm. I see we have an earlier thread on Sewer Fat here.

Interestingly, it comes to an end with a 2005 tale about the eruption of raw sewage from the toilet of a Devon home. South West Water "said the sewer blockage was caused by people's "irresponsible" disposal of fat into the sewers and it was not liable for the damage." :sstorm:
We have a cess-pit and as a result we'd get a very direct reminder of what not to put down the drain, if we put anything down the drain in the following list: anything bactericidal, kitchen roll, wet wipes, sanitary towels, condoms, fat and oil. Maybe it's time to roll out a reminder to folk...
 
I'd like to "remind" one of our neighbours who persistently clogs our sewers with their sanitary towels.
I've a feeling it's the beauty parlour at the end of the row.
 
I'd like to "remind" one of our neighbours who persistently clogs our sewers with their sanitary towels.
I've a feeling it's the beauty parlour at the end of the row.
The old boy next door (now deceased) used to clog up the sewer with something. Water company had to come round twice and clean it out.
 
Concreteberg found in London sewer

100 metres long, weighing 105 tonnes [big as a blue whale, how many olympic swimming pools it would fill unknown], could take two months to remove at a cost of at least several hundred thousand pounds.

“Normally blockages are caused by fat, oil and wet wipes building up in the sewer but unfortunately in this case it’s rock-hard concrete. It’s in there and set to the Victorian brickwork, so we need to chip away at it to get it removed.

The concreteberg is believed to have been caused by a construction company pouring surplus cement down a drain. A range of cutting tools, including jackhammer pneumatic drills and high-pressure jets, will be needed to break it up.

Thames Water said it had launched an investigation to identify the culprits and planned to sue them to recover its costs.

1016.jpg
 
Concreteberg found in London sewer

100 metres long, weighing 105 tonnes [big as a blue whale, how many olympic swimming pools it would fill unknown], could take two months to remove at a cost of at least several hundred thousand pounds.
I can believe it. When our soil pipe clogged, I had to remove a 4 foot section entirely and found it's i/d reduced to about 3" and a thick layer of cementacious material covered the inside, resulting from a shower installation, where the installer had simply flushed all the left over material down the drain. He's long since vanished, which is as well or I'd have sued the bastard.
 
I can believe it. When our soil pipe clogged, I had to remove a 4 foot section entirely and found it's i/d reduced to about 3" and a thick layer of cementacious material covered the inside, resulting from a shower installation, where the installer had simply flushed all the left over material down the drain. He's long since vanished, which is as well or I'd have sued the bastard.

Some fool not a million miles from this very spot once hired a cement mixer and rinsed it out before sending it back, not realising just how much product was left inside, and blocked the garden drain.
 
An illustrious ancestor of Technician Second Class Arnold J. Rimmer reported his department successfully cleared a 10 ton fatberg from a London sewer.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54735988

"Thames Water's head of waste networks Matt Rimmer said the fatberg had "set hard and had to be destroyed to get the sewer flowing well again". "
 
An illustrious ancestor of Technician Second Class Arnold J. Rimmer reported his department successfully cleared a 10 ton fatberg from a London sewer.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-54735988

"Thames Water's head of waste networks Matt Rimmer said the fatberg had "set hard and had to be destroyed to get the sewer flowing well again". "
How do they dispose of that fat, I wonder? Normally, fat and oil could be recycled into a bio-diesel, but the fatberg is so polluted.
 
so I am feeling a little rough in the tummy dept and have not yet had dinner when I read this thread. Now I cant stop imaging the smell and stop giggling at the phrase fat berg! ‍
 
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