Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Devon and Cornwall’s largest-ever fatberg has been successfully removed, South West Water has announced.
The 64-metre fatberg was discovered by the water company under the Esplanade in Sidmouth just before Christmas.
South West Water said its workers have battled “exceptionally challenging conditions” over the past eight weeks to break up the congealed fat, oil and wet wipes.
Initially, the workers had to be winched into the sewer via a manhole and for the first few days had to wear specialist breathing apparatus because of dangerous gasses in the pipe.
To break up the fatberg, the team used specialist jetting equipment and manual labour before it was loaded into tankers.
A total of 36 tanker loads of debris, each consisting of 3,000 gallons, have been excavated and removed.
The fatberg was taken to a local sewage treatment works where it was fed into the anaerobic digester and produced energy to power the plant.
South West Water’s director of wastewater, Andrew Roantree, said: “Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the team for all their hard work and to the people of Sidmouth for their patience during the fatberg’s removal.
“The Sidmouth fatberg is the largest discovered in our service history and illustrates how this key environmental issue is not just facing the UK’s biggest cities but our coastal towns as well.
“The fatberg has made headlines all over the world, and we really hope that this will help everyone to remember to only flush the 3Ps – pee, paper and poo – down the loo and to dispose of fat, oil and grease in the bin not down the sink,” he added.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.