News

We've found that sewers in Chaddesley Corbett are blocked full of fat and wipes.

Chaddesley Corbett has suffered from a sewer that had been blocked with fat and wipes, and the blockage has led to three cases of flooding in the last few months. This time, sewage was forced up to the surface and escaped from the pipe, causing flooding around the area.

In the last year we've been called out to over 45,000 blockages, of which three quarters were caused by people misusing the sewer system. This includes when fat and grease enters the sewer system, which cools and solidifies to cause a blockage, as well as when wipes are flushed down the toilet.

Grant Mitchell, waste water manager for Severn Trent said: “Now that we’ve found this blockage, we’ll investigate to find out where the fat and wipes are coming from. Our partners ECAS will start by talking to the food outlets surrounding the area, to make sure they are disposing of the fat and grease properly to stop it entering the sewage pipes. But this could just be your average customer who is disposing of fat and wipes down the sink or toilet, and we just want to remind everybody to put them in the bin.

“Having sewage flooding outside or even inside your home due to sewers being blocked is one of the most horrible things that can happen to you, and we don’t want our customers to suffer in this way, as it’s entirely preventable.  The drains that take waste water away from your home are only a few inches wide and can easily get clogged up when wipes mix with fat and grease.
 
These sewer blockages, if not identified and cleared, can lead to sewers backing up and overflowing into people’s homes and gardens.  And it’s not necessarily the people who put the wrong things down the toilet that are affected.  The blockage can happen further down the street, so what you do in your home can be causing a problem for your neighbours.  As a result of this, we're spending millions of pounds every year sending teams into sewers with jetting equipment and sometimes even spades to dig out these blockages.

Grant added: “Many customers may not realise that they are responsible for the waste pipe running away from their home up until it either crosses the property boundary or meets with another waste pipe or sewer. Unblocking or repairing this section of pipe can be costly, but avoidable, if you’re careful about what you put down your toilet or your sink.  So please use the bin in the kitchen rather than washing fats and oils down the sink.”