Image | Illawarra Mercury
Wet wipes that don’t break down are being flushed down toilets and creating “fatbergs” that are clogging sewerage systems around the world, says one water company.
A one-tonne mega mass of sewage and wet wipes recently clogged a pipe in NSW, blowing out a pumping station near Lake Macquarie, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Three-quarters of the cluster was removed with specialised equipment, but the rest of the “fatberg” – which weighed 300 kilograms – was removed by hand, one bucket at a time, according to Hunter Water Corp spokesman Nick Kaiser.
Image | Hunter Water
“Wet wipes are responsible for around 80 per cent of all sewer blockages in Hunter Water’s system,” Mr Kaiser told Fairfax.
“These can cost thousands of dollars to repair and if they occur in people’s private plumbing that cost is worn by the customer.”
“Only human waste and toilet paper should ever be flushed down the toilet,” Mr Kaiser said.
The blockages are a problem around the world, thanks to wet wipes advertised as flushable but which take years to break down.
Image | Sydney Water
In the meantime, they can build up in sewer pipes and mix with fats and oils to form the so-call “fatbergs”.
A Sydney Water spokesman has told Fairfax that wet wipes are clogging up the sewerage systems in the Illawarra area on a “constant basis”.
“The issue is certainly that wet wipes don’t break down like toilet paper,” he said.
“Toilet paper breaks down almost immediately when flushed. Independent tests undertaken by Choice showed that the wet wipes hadn’t broken down in any way during a 21-hour testing period.”
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