Thames Water Removes 100-Ton Fatberg From Sewer; Chisels And High-Pressure Hoses Used In Project [View all]

A team of water engineers have spent a month blasting and chiselling a 100-tonne fatberg loose from under the streets of west London. The blockage consisting mainly of wet wipes glued together by congealed fat, oil and grease, was the equivalent in mass of eight doubledecker buses, stuck 10 metres below street level.

Thames Water has circulated details of the mammoth clean-up job to mark a month-long national campaign to raise awareness of how substances and items tipped down drains affect our rivers, seas and wider environment.

It comes as Thames Water’s creditors ask the water industry regulator, Ofwat, for up to 15 years leniency from rules on pollution of England’s waterways, arguing it would be impossible for the company to make upgrades across London and south-east England more quickly because of the scale of the work needed after years of neglect. Thames Water has been crippled by huge debts built up over two decades by owners who have been criticised for paying out dividends without investing enough in its leaking pipes and malfunctioning treatment works.

Fatbergs are formed when oil, grease and fat poured down drains combine with non-biodegradable items such as wet wipes, nappies and cotton buds. If left to grow, they can cause flooding and widespread effluent pollution when sewers back up. It was after such an incident that investigators discovered the latest fatberg lurking 10 metres below the streets of Feltham. It was composed primarily of wet wipes, compacted into a fibrous and gelatinous mass blocking the flow through a major sewer pipe beneath the district.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/06/thames-water-removes-100-tonne-fatberg-from-feltham-sewer-west-london