100-tonne ‘fatberg’ blockage removed from London sewer
Residents warned as huge ‘fatberg’ takes weeks to clear
- A colossal 100-tonne "fatberg" has been successfully cleared from a west London sewer by Thames Water.
- The massive obstruction, located over 10 metres below street level in Feltham, took a specialist team over a month to remove.
- Composed primarily of wet wipes, solidified by fat, oil, and grease, the fatberg weighed as much as eight double-decker buses.
- Engineers used blasting, chiselling, and suction techniques to extract the material from a 125-metre stretch of pipes, which was then transported to landfill.
- Thames Water highlights that such blockages, often caused by wet wipes, lead to 75,000 clearances annually at a cost of £18 million, urging the public to avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper.