Workers were trying to clear a London sewer
when they discovered a one hundred forty-three ton 'FATBERG!'
*
Deep in the bowels of London a network of Victorian tunnels
has carried sewage beneath the city for more than 150 years.
But in twenty-seventeen, workers discovered something strange lurking in the dark.
Longer than the famous Tower Bridge and approaching the weight of a blue whale --
It was a monster of strangely and disgustingly
human origin.
But would the team be able to cast it aside?
At the beginning of the nineteenth century,
London was home to around three million people.
And while this made it one of the most populous cities in the world,
it also led to some rather unpleasant conditions.
In fact, most of the river Thames -- which flows through the city,
functioned as an open sewer at the time.
Unsurprisingly, these conditions were disastrous for the health of London's population;
As bacteria bred in the city's water supply
diseases like cholera became rife.
It's fortunate then, that human progress prevailed.
Eventually, scientists realized what was causing the outbreaks,
and the British government began taking steps to modernize the sewers.
Assigned the task of bringing the system up to date,
civil engineer (Sir) Joseph Basilgette,
drew up plans for an extensive underground network
consisting of several interlinking sewers.
This network then collected waste from across the city
and transported it to the Thames estuary,
and there it was disposed of; far away from the local population.
Built between the years eighteen fifty-nine and eighteen sixty-five,
(Sir) Basilgette's system had an immediate effect on public health --
Preventing yet another cholera outbreak from devastating the city
when eighteen sixty-six rolled around.
Amazingly, too, the system is still in use today.
And although the Victorian tunnels have been modernized over the years,
they continue to form the spine of London's sewerage system --
some one hundred fifty years after they were first constructed.
Of course, London today is a far cry from
the city of 'Jack the Ripper' and Victorian slums,
and almost nine million people now call the place home.
But as London's sewerage system was designed to cope with the waste from a
population of four and a half million at most,
the antiquated tunnels sometimes struggle to keep up with the current demand.
In fact, as the population of London continues to grow,
residents have again become acquainted with
the problems of inadequate sewer system.
The river Thames suffers from pollution, and heavy rains
bring waste flowing out of the city's drains.
But beneath the streets of East London, another more modern
horror has been recently been discovered too.
In September twenty seventeen, workers from Thames Water
were carrying out a routine inspection of the sewers beneath Whitechapel,
a once impoverished area of London's East End.
Suddenly, though, any sense of the routine was broken
- you see - the team stumbled across something bizarre
blocking a three point nine foot high tunnel below the city.
And the nature of the discovery left many people taken aback.
Shockingly, the blockage was caused by a collection of
fat, oil, and waste products that had congealed into a single mass.
Weighing in at about a hundred and forty-three tons
the lump, known as a 'FATBERG', stretched to a staggering
eight hundred twenty feet in length.
For reference, that's longer than the combined length of a pair of football fields!
'FATBERGS' in the London sewer system in fact
date back to at least twenty thirteen
When a fifteen ton mass of wet wipes and food waste
was discovered beneath the district of Kingston-upon-thames.
And interestingly, it isn't just London that was borne witness
to these disgusting monsters over the years.
In September twenty fourteen, the sewers under Melbourne, Australia
became blocked by a 'FATBERG' consisting of grease, waste, and fat.
Then the following year the masses were discovered clogging the drains
of Cardiff, Wales. London, Wales, and Australia, in fact,
seem to be the hubs for this particular phenomenon.
However another example appeared in Baltimore, Maryland in twenty seventeen.
But according to Thames Water, the Whitechapel
fatberg was among the biggest that they'd ever seen.
Furthermore, it had set into a solid mass
making removal a lengthy and complicated process.
And if the expert team didn't succeed in clearing the fat from the sewers,
they risked seeing waste flood out onto
London streets. Soon after the discovery of the fatberg then,
eight employees from Thames Water were assigned the task of
trying to break It up. Dressed in protective clothing,
the crew used shovels and high pressure hoses
to chip away at the blockage. However, breaking through the mass
of congealed waste was no mean feat. Matt Rimmer, the head of waste networks for
Thames Water, has explained the difficulties.
In a twenty seventeen interview with the London Evening Standard
He said, "It's a total monster, and it's taking a lot of"
"manpower and machinery to remove, as it [is] set hard."
Eventually, though, after nine weeks of effort,
the fatberg was successfully cleared.
As well as being made up of fat and wet wipes, the mass was also found
to contain household waste such as nappies, condoms, and cooking oil.
What's more, the fatberg had damaged the structure of the sewer,
which made it even more difficult to remove;
And while the workers eventually managed to defeat the beast,
it certainly wasn't a job that anyone relished.
Alex Saunders, Thames Water's waste network manager
described the horror.
"It was some of the most gut-wrenching work many would have seen." he told the BBC in twenty seventeen.
Unfortunately though it probably isn't the last time that he and his colleagues will have to face a fatberg.
Indeed, it's thought that the company spends some one million pounds,
or *ha!* one point four million dollars,
every month, removing similar blockages from London's sewers.
According to Rimmer the blockages are mostly caused by human ignorance
making the entire process even more exasperating.
"It's frustrating as these situations are totally avoidable and caused by"
"fat, oil, and grease being washed down sinks; and"
"wipes flushed down the loo.," he told The Guardian in twenty seventeen.
Water chiefs are therefore reaching out to
businesses and individuals alike in an effort to prevent
fatbergs from continuing to damage London's antiquated
sewer system. And engineers have been taking time to visit
food vendors across the city and explain how to
properly dispose of fat and waste.
Rimmer is also encouraging consumers to be careful about what they throw away;
"The sewers are not an abyss for household rubbish ...", he cautioned,
"... and our message to everyone is clear -- please 'bin it -- don't block it'."
Thames Water, meanwhile, has been researching potential uses
for the fatbergs, including the possibility of turning them into
useful biofuels.
One such novel use for this particular fatberg was unveiled
just weeks after it was finally removed from Whitechapel's sewers.
It was announced that a portion of it would be going on display
in the Museum of London in twenty eighteen.
According to Thames Water spokesperson Stuart White,
"The idea is to get visitors to think about what they are putting into"
"the city's sewers. This rock solid chunk of in the Museum"
"is a vivid reminder to us all that out of sight is"
"not gone forever,", he told ITV
in twenty seventeen, "So please help keep London flowing."
: )