Ealing Homes At Risk From Sewage Flooding

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Thames Water launch new campaign 'Bin it - Don't Block it'

Fatbergs not blocks of concrete

Hundreds of homes in Ealing have been flooded with raw sewage because congealed fat is blocking the pipes.

Cooking oil along with wet wipes thrown out in toilets and drains - dubbed 'fatbergs'- are having a massive impact on the sewer system.

Ealing is one of the worst offenders with 884 homes flooded in the last five years and 8,000 'fatbergs' cleared from the borough in contrast to just 7,000 across the entire county of Oxfordshire.

Thames Water, the company responsible for London’s drains, has launched a new campaign to raise awareness of the problem.

Adverts on billboards and bus stops, urge customers to ‘bin it – don’t block it’ to prevent anymore sewer flooding.

Sewer operations manager for West London, Trevor Hennessey said, “Absolutely no one wants to have sewage overflowing into their home. It’s disgusting, distressing and completely avoidable.

“The sewers serve an important purpose - they are not an abyss for household rubbish. They were only designed to carry water, toilet tissue and human waste. Anything else will block them.

“Cleaning pots and pans with washing up liquid simply does not breakdown cooking fat and oil for good. It goes down the drain easily enough, but when it hits the cold sewers, it hardens into disgusting ‘fatbergs’ that cling to wet wipes and cause blockages in pipes.

Thames Water is also writing to customers in the worst affected streets and providing them with free ‘fat traps’ to collect used cooking oil in.

In addition the company is offering to pay the travel costs of 100 primary schools across West London so pupils can visit the company’s education centres at sewage works in Slough and Rickmansworth to learn about the water cycle and protecting the sewer system.

 

23rd September 2014