The weird & Wonderful items that get flushed down our sewers.
Water Companies have found some of the strangest items in their sewers over the years.
While the flushing of wipes remains water company’s biggest problem, as they cause blockages that can result in flooding of homes and the environment, water company’s sewer maintenance teams regularly come across things that leave them bewildered.
All of these items that shouldn't be flushed down toilets or emptied into drains can mix with fats, oils and grease (FOGs) and create fatbergs.
Many wipes are made from plastic, which means they don’t break down in water like toilet roll. Our toilets and sewer pipes are not designed for wipes. Even if the wipes aren’t in your toilet bowl, they might get stuck in the pipes near your home, or someone else’s.
Since the start of the pandemic, face masks have added to the flushed unflushables list, but the regularity with which items of underwear – pants, socks, bras – is simply baffling.
People disposing of wipes – or anything else that isn’t toilet paper, pee or poo - should NOT flush these down the toilet.
Alongside wipes, nappies and other sanitary products, other weird items include:
A screwdriver, various items of underwear, a beach towel – which blocked a pump at a water company’s treatment works – empty hair conditioner sachets and personal PPE.
While these are strange enough things to have been flushed into the sewer, historically things including a large snake have been found in the network.
Wrongly flushed items are a nightmare for everyone as they can cause all sorts of problems inside customers' homes, in the communities we live in and for the environment.
When sewage can’t flow down the sewer pipes because of a blockage, it has to go somewhere else. This could be your street, garden or even back into your home through the toilet, or drains in your bath, sink and shower, flooding your bathroom and home.
Prevention is always best!!
key points
- do not flush unflushables including wet-wipes, sanitary products , nappies, make up pads/wipes.
- in homes don't empty FOGs into your sink, empty into a used tin or clean around your dish with a paper towel and dispose in the bin.