Monster Fatberg Cripples London

Thames Water engineers have started a three-week sewer war against a giant 250-metre long fatberg.

The Whitechapel fatberg is around 10 times bigger than the famous Kingston monster found in 2013 and is one of the largest ever found, with the extreme rock-solid mass of wet wipes, nappies, fat and oil weighing the same as 11 double-decker buses. It is blocking a stretch of Victorian sewer more than twice the length of two Wembley football pitches and weighs-in at a staggering 130 tonnes.

Thames Water’s head of waste networks, Matt Rimmer, said:

“This fatberg is up there with the biggest we’ve ever seen. It’s a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery to remove as it’s set hard.

“It’s basically like trying to break up concrete. It’s frustrating as these situations are totally avoidable and caused by fat, oil and grease being washed down sinks and wipes flushed down the loo.”

Work on Whitechapel Road to remove the immense fatberg started this week and involves an eight-strong crew using high-powered jet hoses to break up the mass before sucking it out with tankers, which take it away for disposal at a recycling site in Stratford.

Thames Water serves 15 million customers and spends around £1 million a month clearing blockages from its sewers in London and the Thames Valley, all caused by items like fat, wipes, nappies, cotton buds, sanitary products and condoms. That’s an average of 3 fat-related blockages and 4.8 blockages caused by items like wet wipes every hour.

The company’s ‘Bin it – don’t block it’ campaign, which mainly targets households, is supported by two new videos demonstrating how fat and wipes can be responsibly disposed of in the bin.

Thames Water engineers also began visiting food outlets earlier this year to discuss how they dispose of fat and food waste, plus offer advice on grease trapping equipment for commercial kitchens.