Severn Trent customers are being urged to hop onto the trend this Easter and make sure they help to stop nasty blockages and flooding incidents in the home. 

Easter is a time for families to spend some quality time together, over-indulge in sweet treats and get a delicious roast cooking in the oven. 

While families are having an ‘egg-cellent’ time off during the school holidays and as we prepare for the Bank Holiday weekend, extra cooking will be going ahead. The water company wants to remind everyone to make sure those fats, oils and greases are disposed of properly as they can build up and create nasty blockages and fatbergs, which can be costly to fix. 

To avoid this, all people have to do is let fat, oils and grease dry and scrape it into the bin, something that is being promoted in Severn Trent’s latest “Sewer Stories” campaign which asks everyone to ‘be a binner, not a blocker’, by showcasing the gross consequences of flushing the wrong things down the loo.  

Grant Mitchell, Severn Trent Blockages Lead, said: “With people being on holiday or getting together more over the Easter holidays, there will be more cooking over the next few weeks. 

“We need customers to remember to ‘be a binner, not a blocker’ and make sure they are only putting the correct things down the toilet and sinks, or they run the risk of a blockage happening. 

“And it’s not just fats, oils and greases, items such as gravy, sauces, cake mixes and batter can also have a huge impact, so please make sure you are binning all items to keep our sewers healthy and blockage free.”

Helpful tips on how to prevent blockages and flooding in your home and have a cracking Easter include:   

• Use kitchen roll to soak up grease from plates and pans before washing up or using the dishwasher  

• Collect used cooking oil, fat and grease into a container, jar or tin and put it in the bin once cool      

• Make sure things like gravy and sauces are binned rather than washed down the sink    

• In the bathroom only flush the 3P’s - pee, poo, and (toilet) paper- down the toilet   

• Make sure to keep a bin in the bathroom for all unflushable items such as wet wipes, cotton pads and sanitary products 

Wet wipes continue to cause the biggest problems for the sewers and customers are asked not to flush them, even if they say ‘flushable’ or ‘biodegradable’ on the packaging as they don’t break down like toilet paper. 

When they are flushed, they can cause the system to back-up and sewage to flood into homes, which is extremely unpleasant and can hit customers in the pocket.  

Other offenders that can cause big issues are kitchen roll, cotton buds, nappies and sanitary products. When all these are congealed together with fats, oils and greases, which also shouldn’t be put down the sink, they create fatbergs and blockages, which in turn can lead to flooding in homes and gardens.  
 
For more information on how to protect your home from blockages and flooding, and to listen our Sewer Stories visit www.stwater.co.uk/my-supply/sewer-stories 
 
Anyone who has a problem, either with slow drains or a blocked sewer it can be reported at www.stwater.co.uk/in-my-area/check-my-area.