Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water is extending its campaign to encourage people to help reduce the risk of pollution and sewage flooding to homes.

The company’s innovative Let’s Stop the Block campaign has been taking place in St Asaph since October 2014 and aims to transform customers’ behaviours when it comes to putting inappropriate items down the toilet and disposing of fat, oils and grease to drains.

The campaign in St Aspah is now coming to an end and will be moving onto Pembrokeshire shortly.

Blocked sewers are a major problem across the country and cost Welsh Water over £7 million pounds a year to clear over 2,000 blockages a month.

Wet wipes (including those labelled as “flushable”), disposable nappies and sanitary products are the main items that cause problems; but kitchen oil, fats and grease can also lead to major blockages. Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water staff spend around 28,000 hours clearing blockages every year.

Customers report a blockage to Welsh Water every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days each year and every 2 days someone’s home is flooded by a blocked sewer.

Around 13 blockages each day are found to be on customers’ pipework – where the cost of clearing the blockage is their responsibility.

Welsh Water’s sewer network almost doubled overnight on 1 October 2011 with the government transfer of private sewers from customers to the sewerage companies across England and Wales. Much of the transferred sewer network is only 100mm (4”) in diameter – at a higher risk of incorrectly disposed items becoming lodged.