130-tonne 'monster fatberg' clogs London sewer

Sewage workers have found a 130-tonne ball of congealed fat - dubbed a 'monster fatberg' - clogging a Victorian-era sewer in London, utility company Thames Water revealed.

In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London.

In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London. Source: AAP

Engineers expect it will take up to three-weeks to remove the rock-solid mass of festering food fat mixed with sanitary wipes found in drains under a major road in Whitechapel, east London.

"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," Matt Rimmer, Thames Water's head of waste, said in a statement.

"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," he added.
In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London.
In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London. Source: AAP
Images show that the sewer totally blocked by the 250-metre (273-yard) long fatberg.

An eight-member crew is removing an average of 20 to 30 tonnes a day, the statement explained, using high-powered jet hoses to break up the mass which is then sucked out into tankers.

Weighing the same as 11 double decker buses, the fatberg easily eclipses the one found in 2013 in Kingston, southwest London.
Described at the time as Britain's biggest ever fatberg, it weighed 15 tonnes and took ten days to clear up.

Thames Water clears up an average of three fat related blockages and five blockages caused by items including wet wipes every hour from its sewers in London and the Thames Valley.

It costs the company around £1 million ($1.3 million, 1.1 million euros) a month to do so.
In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of part of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London.
In this undated handout photo issued by Thames Water on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, a view of part of a fatberg inside a sewer in Whitechapel, London. Source: AAP

Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AFP, SBS

Tags

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world