Fatberg the size of 8 double decker buses removed from Feltham sewer

"'But while some blockages in our biggest sewers can weigh as much as 25 elephants, we must not forget most blockages occur in local pipes - often narrower than a mobile phone and usually caused by a few households. 'When these pipes get blocked, we can't simply switch off the sewage. 'It backs up and must come out somewhere, whether that's roads, rivers or even people's homes."

"Fatbergs are blockages made up of fat, oil, grease and other flushed waste such as wet wipes and illegal drugs. They form into huge concrete-like slabs and can be found beneath almost every UK city, growing larger with every flush. The latest fatberg to be discovered by Thames Water was a 100-tonne, 125-metre-long mass in a sewer in Feltham. To remove the fatberg, experts had to access to the sewer from a large manhole chamber measuring just three metres in diameter."

"Over the course of a month, the team blasted, chiselled and sucked the fatberg out, before piping the mess into skips to be taken to landfill. The removal comes shortly after the government revealed plans to ban toxic plastic wet wipes in the UK. 'We welcome the Government's move to ban wet wipes containing plastic and will continue to support awareness campaigns like this, which empower people to make small changes that have a big impact on our sewer systems, rivers, and the wider environmen"

A 100-tonne, 125-metre fatberg composed of wet wipes, fat, oil, grease and flushed waste including illegal drugs was recovered from a sewer in Feltham. The congealed mass was lodged more than 10 metres below street level and equated to eight double-decker buses. Engineers accessed the sewer through a three-metre-diameter manhole chamber and spent over a month blasting, chiselling and suctioning the concrete-like slab before piping the material into skips for landfill. Local pipe blockages, often caused by a few households, can back sewage into roads, rivers or homes. Thames Water welcomed the government's move to ban plastic-containing wet wipes.

Read at Mail Online