The UK’s largest water company is highlighting the perils of pouring gravy, fats, oils and greases from festive meals down the drain.
Thames Water clears around 75,000 blockages from its sewers each year, and around 200 blockages each day from homes across London, the Home Counties and the Thames Valley.
Wokingham recorded a total of 1,208 incidents of blocked drains between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023, with the majority of causes being attributed to paper and rags, including wet wipes and sanitary items. This was the highest of any authority in the Thames Valley.
The company estimated that 60% of sewer flooding in homes each year is caused by blockages.
It is urging its customers to help fight fatbergs this festive season, when it often sees an increase following the Christmas period compared with the rest of the year.
From December 2022 until the end of February 2023, Thames Water cleared 5,447 blockages caused by fats, oils and greases from its public network. This compared with 4,807 blockages from June 2023 until August 2023.
Thames Water has also calculated blockage hotspots from October 2022 until September 2023. The company cleared 1,346 blockages caused by fats, oils and greases, in Berkshire during this time.
Danny Leamon, director of waste for Thames Valley and Home Counties at Thames Water said: “We’re reminding customers to be careful with what they flush down the loo and pour down the sink, to help prevent unwanted blockages ruining their Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“We all love tucking into a Christmas lunch but leftover custard, gravy and fats, oils and greases from roasted meat and potatoes do not belong in your sewers.
“If you use wet wipes and kitchen roll to mop up spills during cooking or after dinner, please also put these in the bin.
“Only the three Ps: pee, poo, paper should be flushed away.”
Thames Water’s website has handy tips on how to prevent blocked pipes around your home and the company shares these on social media as part of its Bin it – don’t block it campaign:
Thames Water cleans and maintains 68,000 miles of sewers across London, Home Counties and the Thames Valley.
The company uses four-wheeled robots fitted with cameras to check and record footage of its sewers, cataloguing what they find, including fatbergs caused by wet wipes, mixing with fats, oils and greases that are poured down drains.
Since April this year Thames Water has visited over 5,000 restaurants, pubs and other food service establishments to help them install effective grease management systems.
