15-ton ‘fatberg’ blasted out of London sewer (VIDEO)
A 15-ton ball of congealed fat and baby wipes blasted from a London sewer is being called Britain’s biggest-ever “fatberg.”
A 15-ton ball of congealed fat and baby wipes has been blasted from London's sewer in what's being called Britain's biggest-ever fight against a "fatberg."
It took crews 10 days to remove the murky, bus-sized monstrosity from sewage pipes below a major road in Kingston, after residents there complained that their toilets would not flush.
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An unlucky crew with Thames Water had to use high-powered hydraulic jets to blast away the blockage.
Some larger chunks were removed for processing at sewage treatment plants.
"The sewer was almost completely clogged with over 15 tons of fat," Gordon Hailwood, waste contracts supervisor for the company, told AFP. "If we hadn't discovered it in time, raw sewage could have started spurting out of manholes across the whole of Kingston."
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The "wrongly flushed festering food fat mixed with wet wipes" was so big it reduced the sewer to just five percent of its normal capacity.
It also damaged the sewer to the point that six weeks of repairs are needed.
Thames Water says it deals with "fatbergs" all the time, but wanted to publicize news of this massive lard ball in hopes of convincing customers to think twice about what they flush down the drain.