Severn Trent Water is spending £10 million per year to deal with sewer blockages caused by inappropriate items flushed down toilets – with wipes flagged up as one of the prime causes.

The water company said that every weekend, in every town, around three and a half tones of wipes and other items which shouldn’t be flushed are dragged out of its sewers.  Across the region thias is adding up to nearly 1,500 tonnes every month, and over 16,000 tonnes per year.

Sue Davey, customer relationship lead, commented:

“Wipes are one of the biggest problems we’re dealing with at the moment.  They’re everywhere these days – baby wipes, floor wipes, face wipes – and people don’t think before dropping them into the toilet.  But the problem is that they don’t break up or dissolve like toilet paper, and so they easily get stuck in drains and sewers and cause blockages.”

“These sewer blockages, if not identified and cleared can lead to sewers backing up and overflowing into people’s homes and gardens.  And it’s not necessarily the people who put the wrong things down the toilet that are affected.  The blockage can happen further down the street, so what you do in your home can be causing a problem for your neighbours. We’re spending millions of pounds every year sending teams into sewers with jetting equipment and sometimes even spades to dig out these blockages.”

In the last year Severn Trent Water has been called out to thousands of blockages in the region, of which three quarters were caused by people misusing the sewer system.  Figures show that the situation is getting worse. 

The water company said that dealing with the problem is costing over £10 million per year clearing sanitary products such as wipes, fat, nappies and all sorts of other random items from its network, all of which is unnecessary spending.