The Sidmouth fatberg, a monstrous mass of congealed oils, grease, wet wipes and other nasties discovered lurking under the seafront of the Devon resort, has finally been vanquished.
It has taken a dedicated team of workers seven weeks to remove the 64-metre object found by a shocked worker, Charlie Ewart, during a routine check just before Christmas.
Since February, Ewart and his colleagues have braved challenging conditions (and the terrible smell) to break up the beast, which made headlines around the world.
They had to be winched into the sewer via a manhole and for the first few days needed to wear full breathing apparatus because of dangerous gases. At times, water levels in the sewer made it too treacherous to enter.
Specialist jetting equipment and manual labour – workers chipping at the fatberg with shovels and small pickaxes – were used to break up the mass before it was loaded on to tankers.
Thirty-six tanker loads – each carrying 136 cubic metres – of nastiness has been excavated and removed by seven workers, all “confined-space specialists”. The final two tankers were set to leave on Thursday morning. The hunks of fatberg have been taken to a local sewage treatment works where they were fed into the anaerobic digester and produced energy to power the plant.
South West Water’s director of wastewater, Andrew Roantree, praised the workers and the good citizens of Sidmouth. “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,” he said.
“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.
“We really hope that this will help everyone to remember to only flush the three Ps – pee, paper and poo – down the loo and to dispose of fat, oil and grease in the bin not down the sink.”
“Love Your Loo” advisers from South West Water have been on hand in the town, firstly in a pop-up shop on the High Street and then at the library and swimming pool, to answer residents’ questions about the fatberg and what should and should not be flushed.
Over the next couple of weeks advisers will also be visiting hotels, restaurants, cafes and takeaways to offer advice to businesses on the best ways of disposing of fat, oil and grease.
Roantree added: “Although not on the same scale as the Sidmouth fatberg, we deal with around 8,500 blocked sewers every year, which costs about £4.5m to clear and adds to bills.
“Most of these blockages are caused by people inappropriately flushing baby wipes, hygiene wipes, cleaning wipes, cleansing pads and sanitary products which do not break down in the same way as toilet paper and get glued together by fat, oil and grease poured down drains.
“Thankfully the Sidmouth fatberg has now gone but we’ll need the help of the people of Sidmouth to make sure it never returns.”
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