Sex Toys and Knickers Block Drains
Sex toys, fish, a 5ft cuddly toy, knickers and 17 jars of beetroot are some of the strange items found in sewers in Wales.
Welsh Water is dealing with about 2,000 calls every month to remove items like wet wipes from drains. It now says the problem is so bad it should be taught in schools, so children can influence their parents. At Cardiff Treatment Works, where the sewerage is separated, all the un-flushable items get collected into a skip – with the company removing seven tonnes worth of rubbish from that site alone every week.
Emma Harris, pollution reduction strategy manager, said:
“People put strange things down the sewers, whether its toys or dead tropical fish, but also a lot of wet wipes and also sanitary products,
“I think it is part of educating our customers to make sure they understand, they don’t necessarily make that connection between what we flush down the toilet and the impact it could have on the environment.”
Welsh Water, which is not-for-profit company, is responsible for managing more than 16,800 miles (27,000km) of sewer network, with staff spending about 28,000 hours a year removing blockages. This includes 1.3m cotton buds flushed down toilets. It is an offence to flush anything which could cause a blockage.
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