A utility company has removed Britain’s biggest ever “fatberg” from a London sewer, weighing in at over 15 tonnes. The bus-sized blob of combined food fats and wet wipes was discovered after residents complained of being unable to flush their toilets.
Had it not been removed, raw sewage could have started flooding the streets and homes of the West London suburb of Kingston upon Thames.
Even removing the blob damaged the sewer pipes, which could take six weeks to repair, according to Gordon Hailwood, waste contracts supervisor for Thames Water.
“Given we’ve got the biggest sewers and this is the biggest fatberg we’ve encountered, we reckon it has to be the biggest such berg in British history,” he said.
Thames Water also uploaded a video of their expedition to the heart of darkness, embedded below.
This may not even be the weirdest thing they’ve pulled out of the London sewers. According to the Guardian, they once found half a Mini Cooper in the pipes.
[Thames Water][image: County Clean]