Wall-sized chunks of fat removed from London sewers

Of all the tourists that can be found in London, I doubt many of them would opt - instead of going to the London Eye or the Tower of London - to clean fat off the walls of the city's sewers, which have become ridden with enough of the stuff to fill nine double-decker buses.

The bulk of the work is being performed in the heart of London - underneath Leicester Square.


The "flushers", as the workers on the site are referred to, are set to remove one million kilograms of fat from the sewer. According to the Independent:

The operation, which began in the early hours of this morning, is claimed to be the largest-ever sewer clean-up of its kind.

The build-up is the result of years of "sewer abuse" - when anything other than water, human waste and toilet paper is put down drains - according to Thames Water.

Danny Brackley, the water company's sewer flusher, said: "We're used to getting our hands dirty, but nothing on this scale.

"We couldn't even access the sewer as it was blocked by a four-foot wall of solid fat."

The cleanup is expected to continue for a couple of weeks. [Via The Independent]