#25 Return of the Fatbergs

Underneath cities all over the UK subterranean mountains of calcified fat are gathering in our sewers as fat, oil and grease stick to baby wipes and harden to form a blubbery bacterial blockage. Removing them is dangerous, manual work, putting people and the infrastructure itself at risk. In this episode we venture to the site of Europe’s biggest fatberg in Blackfriars, London with Lanes Group special projects manager Andy Howard, who explains that removing a fatberg is not necessarily the end of the story. Unless people change their habits, fatbergs will come back. At Whitechapel, in east London they have already witnessed the return of the fatberg. Hear Andy describe in detail how fatbergs are hacked, drilled and dug out as well as describe a new phenomenon plaguing the sewers – concretebergs. GUEST Andy Howard, special projects manager, Lanes Group A new report from Lanes shows that public awareness of fatbergs is increasing with 77 percent of people knowing what they. However 85 percent of people had never heard of concretebergs! Full survey here. SPECIAL THANKS Lanes Group Thames Water Water UKThe post #25 Return of the Fatbergs first appeared on Engineering Matters.