Yorkshire Water warn of blockages as huge fatberg weighing as much as a car removed in Leeds

The 1.5-tonne mass was recovered in City Square outside the hotel and in front of Channel 4’s new Majestic headquarters in the city.

A team from Yorkshire Water spent four nights on site breaking up the blockage into pieces.

They removed several tonnes of fat that had built up in a 100m section of brick egg sewer.

In some sections the fat had blocked up to 60 per cent of the sewer, preventing sewage from flowing naturally toward sewage treatment works.

Overall, the fatberg - found in November 2020 - weighed as much as a Mini Cooper.

Yorkshire Water is now urging people in Leeds postcodes to only flush the 3Ps – pee, poo and (toilet) paper – and consider what they pour down the drains after tackling more than 4,000 blockages in the area in 2020.

The blockages made up 16% of all blockages found in Yorkshire over the last 12 months, with the company’s field technicians removing more than 25,000 across the region in total.

Yorkshire Water said problems in the sewer network are most often caused by foreign objects – such as wet wipes, sanitary products, cotton buds – being flushed down toilets and fats, oils and greases being poured down drains.

These can become snagged and develop into large blockages that prevent sewage flowing through the network to wastewater treatment works, the service said.

Mark Hammond, head of customer field services at Yorkshire Water, said: “Our teams were called to more than 25,000 blockages across our region in 2020. Clearing blockages caused by foreign objects, fats and wet wipes costs millions of pounds– money which could be spent on improving our network and innovative new technologies.

“More than 4,000 of these blockages were in LS postcodes and we would urge our customers in the area to think twice before flushing them, as one wipe may not seem significant, but when combined they create blockages that prevent our network operating correctly. In some instances, these blockages can lead to sewage flooding in homes and the local environment.

“Foreign objects, such as nappies, cotton buds and sanitary products also contribute to blockages across Yorkshire and we also experienced an increase in DIY materials blocking our sewers, particularly during the first lockdown period.”

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