The technical term is “fatberg”.
Thames Water has revealed this huge congealed mass of fat and litter was found under an 80-metre stretch of Shepherd’s Bush Road, in west London.
Known as "fatbergs", these blockages form when waste such as cooking fat and wet wipes are disposed of down drains and toilets. This particular fatberg contained delights including tennis balls and planks of wood.
Thames Water
A team of sewer experts spent most of last week battling the giant fatberg, fighting it with high powered water jets.
Thames Water
It was removed to prevent the sewer flooding, which would have involved nasty sewer waste filling the homes and businesses of Shepherd's Bush. So thank you fatberg fighters.
Channel 4 / Via replygif.net
The water firm says unblocking sewers costs London £12 million a year. So next time you consider flushing a wet wipe, or a tennis ball, think of the words of Dave Dennis, Thames Water sewer operations manager, "London – bin it, don’t block it."
Getty Images Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Flo Perry
