News

Wipes, sanitary products and more wipes is what Severn Trent engineers came face to face with when they attended to investigate a sewer blockage in Newark.

Teams pulled out huge quantities of the nasty wipes and sanitary products after they discovered a blockage on one of its sewer pipes heading for the waste treatment works. 

Grant Mitchell, FOG strategy lead said: “Wipes are great for lots of things, but one thing they’re really not good for is our sewer pipes. This blockage could have been easily prevented if people just simply binned their wipes and sanitary products, instead of flushing them down the loo. A blockage this size could have easily caused sewer flooding for homes nearby, which would be awful for anyone to have to experience, but totally avoidable.”

Severn Trent clears thousands of blockages a year, of which three quarters are caused by people flushing the wrong things into the sewer system.

The company advises all of its customers to bin all wipes and sanitary products, as well as putting fats, oils and greases in the bin rather than down the sink to help keep the network running clear.

“This blockage is the result of everyone flushing just one wipe here and there, and not realising that it’s all collecting in the pipe and creating a big problem like this,” adds Grant. “It’s really easy to avoid this, and prevent issues for you and your neighbours - make sure all wipes, kitchen roll, cotton buds and other sanitary products go straight into the bin, not down the toilet.  That’s going to help everyone, and hopefully avoid nasty blockages like this.”