'Fatberg hard as concrete' clogs Whitehall sewer as £1m monthly clean-up cost revealed

 
Underground discovery: sewer worker Tim Henderson holding part of the fatberg in the Whitehall sewer (Picture: Thames Water)
Rachel Blundy4 November 2014

A huge fatberg has been discovered in a Whitehall sewer - as the cost of cleaning out sewers in and around London was revealed to have reached £1million a month.

The fatberg under the manhole in central London was reportedly one of the worst Thames Water has ever had to clear up.

Nail varnish pots, condoms and sanitary products were among the objects found in the one metre wide passageway beneath several major government departments, the water provider said.

Blockage: waste inside the sewer (Picture: Thames Water)

The terrible state of the sewer is being blamed on the amount of food waste being fed in from sewers in nearby Regent Street, where West End diners can choose from a selection of popular eateries.

The waste is eventually pumped to a sewage treatment works in Beckton.

Sewer workers used industrial equipment to suck away the congealed fat and high-powered jets to clean the sewer walls.

Thames Water deals with about 55,000 sewer blockages annually - costing them and the taxpayer about £12million per year.

Following the clean-up operation, Dave Dennis, Thames Water sewer manager for west London, told ITV London: "A fatberg is when people put fat and oil down the sink. It all congeals into these big huge rocks like this that block up all the sewage system. It's like concrete.

"Sewers are used these days literally like rubbish ground. Not just fat; it's everyday rubbish toiletry items, waste items, I mean we've got a plank of wood here that's never going to go down a main sewer."

He advised people to be vigilant when disposing of waste at home.

He said: "Sewer flooding is a horrific experience, so please remember next time you go to throw cooking oil down the drain or wet wipes down the loo -bin it, don’t block it”.

Earlier this year workers spent four days clearing out a fatberg the length of a jumbo jet from a sewer in Shepherd's Bush.

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