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Thames Water has tackled a “monster fatberg” that risked causing flooding to properties in Holborn over the festive period.
Engineers have been working extra shifts to remove the mass of congealed fat, grease and non-flushable items including wipes and nappies that was discovered in the sewer in Leather Lane, Clerkenwell.
Thames Water has removed more than 200,000 blockages from London’s sewers in the last five years and says there is always an increase around Christmas, when many people put leftover turkey fat down sinks and drains. They also cost the company around £1 million a month to clear.
It is expected that over the next few days enough fat to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools will end up in the UK’s sewers where it will cool, solidify and bind with rubbish such as wipes to form fatbergs.
Thames Water head of sewer networks Jerry White said customers should use containers to trap fats, oils and grease before throwing them in the bin.
He added: “Please don’t feed the fatberg this Christmas”.
The warning comes after Thames Water unveiled its fatberg hotspots over the last five years.
The company has cleared 12,386 blockages in Havering and 8,998 in Barking and Dagenham, which is treble the amount found in the whole of Oxfordshire.
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