Posted on 07/14/2010 8:59:21 PM PDT by csvset
Next time you're tempted to pour leftover cooking oil down the sink, think again. A team of British sewer flushers is up against what they describe as "solid wall of fat" under London's Leicester square, the result of years of careless flushing by the city's inhabitants.
Thames Water, the company responsible for London sewers, estimates that over 1,000 tonnes of fat and waste are being removed from under Leicester Square, "enough to fill nine London Double Decker buses". According to the company, the build-up, which they nickname "fatbergs", is the result of accumulated "sewer abuse": when anything other than water, human waste or toilet paper is put down drains. The company has launched a new campaign, "Bin it, don't Block it", to highlight the scale of the problem.
If you've ever had cooking fat solidify in your kitchen sink, you'll know how hard the stuff is to get rid of. Imagine the muck multiplied by several thousands, and you'll get an idea of how colossal - and stomach-turning - the cleanup mission is. Chief flusher Danny Brackley told us more about how his team gets rid of London's leftover fat - and how people can help "unclog the city's arteries".
"The fatty sewers are a result of our fast-food lifestyle"
Danny Brackley is chief flusher for Thames Water. He is leading the clean-up operation under Leicester Square.
We flushers know from experience that most products which claim to be flushable, such as wet wipes, tampons, or cotton buds, in fact aren't. Just because you can wash them down your sink or flush them doesn't mean you should - it could come back to haunt you if your sewage overflows! Every year, 7,000 homes and gardens across London and the Thames Valley get sewer-flooded. Most overflows could be avoided if people cut out sewer abuse.
Pouring cooking fat down the drain is also a big mistake, because it solidifies in the pipes after it is poured away and forms an obstruction. Instead of pouring leftover cooking oil down the drain, wait for it to solidify and throw it in the bin. Also, avoid washing rice or peas and other small edibles down your kitchen sink.
Today's fatty sewers are a result of our current fast-food lifestyle, which is gorged with hydrogenated fats you didn't find in food back when London's sewer system was built. Our sewers get clogged with fat in the same way that our arteries do. By watching out for what you pour down the drain, you're also watching out for your city's sewer's "health", so to speak.
Right now, we're up against a solid four-foot wall of fat that is blocking our access to the sewer under Leicester square. For this type of cleanup, we're equipped with shovels and high-pressure water jets to break up the fat, and vacuum units to remove it. We try to evacuate as much of the waste as we can; the rest flows down the regular channel once the sewers are unblocked. We also wear breathing equipment when necessary, because fat does smell. At every step, we have to monitor the atmosphere closely, because the methane emitted by the rotting fat can become highly explosive if it reaches certain levels."
This is a problem in many cities in America. People should take measures to minimize fats going to the sewers.
http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20100714-major-fat-cleanup-operation-london-sewers-fatbergs
Seems to me some smart Energy company would take that ‘fat’ off the hands of the sewer department, and use it in place of coal to fire burners at an electrical power plant.
Next thing ya know, they’ll have a grease tax...
Can you use this stuff in a wood burning stove?
I got so caught up in the html for the pics I forgot the source link.
Thanks.
We know there certainly is not any toothpaste going down the drain over there.
An unexploited resource.
Turn the Fat into Bio-Diesel and ferment the rest into Alcohol.
Perhaps they can plug the hole with it !
I don't know a heck of a lot about current wood-burning stove technology, but I think there are at least two problems: (1) the smoke/soot from burning fats leads to lots of buildup as well as exhaust problems, and (2) fats tend to grab ahold of things like Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and other organic compounds. If you burn PCBs, you can get furans and dioxins, which can be very toxic.
So that’s where Algore is living now.
That would kill bacon sales.
>>If you burn PCBs, you can get furans and dioxins, which can be very toxic.<<
Yeah, but can you get high off it?
Another sewer problem that many don't realize exists--many US cities have CSOs...combined sewer overflows. Since sanitary and storm sewers are combined, backups and heavy precipitation can cause problems. Raw sewage gets dumped out when flows get too much to handle. Each year, Wilmington was discharging 1,500,000,000 gallons of untreated wastewater.
I personally wouldn't swim in the Delaware River near there. :-/
Better ask someone with experience with it...like Viktor Yushchenko.
That's part of the conformist's agenda...
Now that’s just plain silly...LOL
Okay, So they found Al Gore, Al Sharpton, Barney Frank, Rosie O’Donnell, and some of the Code Pinko fatties. Now what are they going to do with them? Recycle them as fats, oils or Soylent Green?
sewer abuse???
more like a biofuel goldmine
This is all the fault of that damn busy body, Jamie Oliver !!!
That fat was Groundskeeper Willie’s retirement savings.
Most people do take efforts to stop flushing fat down the drain. Doesn’t everyone keep a jar for bacon fat and the like?
And I will add that if this or ANY sewer is not cleaned
on a regular basis grease will build up in the system,,,
The very first thing that any city will blame is the
customer when the cause is poor/no maintenance,,,
Then there are tree roots...
I kill myself...
“Perhaps they can plug the hole with it !”
LOL — yeah, you’re right — but gotta remember this is our gov at work — wouldn’t use it because it’s free! If one of the bums can’t make a killing it won’t be used.
<Most people do take efforts to stop flushing fat down the drain.
I would think so, too. Everybody knows what too much fat down the sink will do to their own pipes, much less the city sewers.
What I want to know is why can’t peas go down the sink?
Never mind that, once the solid fat is heated up, it becomes a highly flammable liquid...like gasoline.
In other words, it would be a good way to burn down your house.
Having tasted British cooking I have no trouble believing this story.My question is...how much of it found its way on to colon walls rather than in the sewer system?
Now, they'll just re-use it in the Cornish Pasties.
I know many who don't...and those who remember the following are getting fewer and fewer...
"More kitchen fat means more glycerine to make bombs and bullets!"
LMHO!
I’ve seen grocery stores with a special dumpster out back for waste fats, probably for stuff from their butcher shop.
Makes me think of...
41 replies and no picture of Mike Rowe.
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