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Nov 2020

Environment

Fatberg of wet wipes blocks sewer in Grewelthorpe

Published: 9 Nov 2020, 13:38 GMT

Updated: 9 Nov 2020, 14:49 GMT

by Connor Creaghan

The gruesome underground blockage between Ripon and Masham prompted the water company to issue a plea today for people to only flush the three Ps — pee, poo and (toilet) paper — down the loo.

Yorkshire Water found this mass of waster blocking one of it sewers.

Yorkshire Water spent an hour jet washing more than 1,000 litres of water through a sewer in Grewelthorpe to remove a fatberg of wet wipes.

The underground blockage between Ripon and Masham prompted the water company to issue a plea today to only flush the three Ps — pee, poo and (toilet) paper — down the loo.

Wet wipes are the most common cause of blockages and can lead to flooding.

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Mark Hammond, head of customer field services at Yorkshire Water, said:

"We are regularly called out to remove blockages caused by wet wipes in our region. That's despite our warnings and information on packets not to flush them.

"We spend millions of pounds every year on clearing these blockages. It's money which could be spent on improving our network and investing in technologies."

Yorkshire Water also revealed its blockages team removed four large buckets of wet wipes from its sewer network in York this month.

A recent survey by the company found 21% of people flushed wet wipes down the toilet.

The Oxford English Dictionary added the word 'fatberg' in 2015. It is defined as a large mass of solid waste in a sewage system made up of fat and personal hygiene products.