July 15, 2010: Fatbergs

[xoxoxoBruce]

Fatbergs in the London sewers.

Workers clad in overalls with masks and gloves shoveled out enough gunk to fill nine of London's iconic double-decker buses, utility Thames Water said in a statement.
"We're used to getting our hands dirty, but nothing on this scale," said Danny Brackley, a sewer flusher with Thames Water. "We couldn't even access the sewer as it was blocked by a 4-foot wall of solid fat."

It's not just the grease, the other stuff being dumped down the drain hurts too.

The flushers' 'lard' job is made even tougher by the wet wipes and sanitary products bunged down there too. There's only one group of Londoners who love this stinky stuff - the West End's rats - who 'dig' fat as a food source and dig into fatbergs for nightly warmth. In fact, you'll rarely see a rat in a fat free sewer.

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