Silly Bergers

[polygonum_on_google]

"Engineers are working around the clock to clear a ?monster? fatberg 1km long which is clogging a sewer in Birmingham.

The blockage is not expected to be removed until June, water services company Severn Trent said in a statement, adding that the fatberg was about four miles east of the city centre, in Hodge Hill.

The mass is thought to weigh about 300 tonnes ? equivalent to 250 cars. The water services company was alerted to the stoppage after its sensors detected rising water levels in the sewer."

Written as adulation of their sensors.

But just how sensitive do they need to be? Could they not have been triggered when it was only 999 metres long and 299 tonnes/249 cars?

It is a 300 tonne fail. They need to detect before the fatbergs get so immense - however they do it.

[Davey]

And it would help if people didn't flush things like nappies down the toilet. Instead of smart water supply meters, maybe we need smart loo flush meters. If you send something down that you shouldn't, you pay.

[nightjar]

I like the way they clear the sewer under the river in Paris. It is circular and, every so often, using water pressure, they send through a large wooden ball, fitted with steel cleaning strips around the outside.

[Adrian Caspersz]

On 01/05/2021 12:15, Davey wrote: Instead of smart water supply meters, maybe we need smart loo

Sounds like a $hit idea ;-)

[newshound]

There is a trade-off. How much money do you spend on sensors. How much time and effort on direct and remote inspection.

As another poster pointed out, it is a developing problem with people flushing so-called flushable wet wipes, etc. There are also more city centre restaurants and take-aways, although I have the impression that much more effort now goes into preventing fats from entering sewers from these sources

[alan_m]

Wet wipes do seem to be a big problem and not just those that will never break down in a your lifetime. Since the problem was highlighted manufactures of wet wipes now sell biodegradable wet wipes. These will breakdown but they do stay intact on their way through the sewers so are no different to the non-destructible ones with regards their part in the formation of fat burgs.

Some forms of eco recycled paper toilet roll may also be responsible. Fluffy toilet paper seems to start disintegration in the toilet bowl with a little water. Some of the eco paper I once used, similar (but softer) to the hard Izal paper of old, was still sheet form when I lifted a manhold cover to find some caught on a rough join in the clay pipe. This was weeks after I stopped using the paper. This was the type sold by the German supermarkets when they first opened up. After buying a few very cheap multi-packs I came to the conclusion that the paper was crap - the main problem was it was smaller in width so I tended to use more of it for each wipe :)

[polygonum_on_google]

Certainly, while people put wet wipes, etc., down, there will continue to be a problem.

But the costs of removal can be huge - just had a look around and saw one 10 tonner cost £400,000 to remove and fix. And costs in millions for others.

It simply cannot cost anything like that much to have a look every week with a camera. Though a fully automated system could cost a bit to install.

[mm0fmf]

That's because you had an imperial sized arse and not a metric sized one.

[polygonum_on_google]

Appropriate for a throne.

[newshound]

I disagree. That's a cost for what total length of sewers? And a comparatively infrequent event? An inspection, whether by camera or direct man access is going to require a minimum of two people, almost certainly more. Add in the equipment, infrastructure, and overheads cost it's a minimum of £1000 a day. I doubt if you would inspect 100 yards a day.

[polygonum_on_google]

If you are silly enough to require people to go down every week - yes.

But you don't need technology any more sophisticated than a mobile phone and battery pack if you leave it down there. Once a year do a recharge.

(Of course, an actual mobile phone wouldn't be quite right - but no greater technological sophistication.)

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Yes we had one in Kingston and I asked at the time why these things are not spotted sooner, the answer of course is that they don't look for a problem until its large enough to affect the system. Nobody routinely puts a robot camera down in problem areas near baby booms or chip chops perhaps? :-)

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Would it not be easier to find these items in smaller sewers before they get to the really big ones, Certainly they would have a lot of smaller call outs, but one supposes these should take very little time to clear and not gum up the whole of a major sewer affecting thousands of people. Wet wipes are apparently making things worse at the moment. Maybe nappies and wet wipes which are bio degradable might well help. Brian

[Davey]

Yes, as I understand it, wet-wipes are described as 'biodegradeable' when they are not, at least within the time frame that matters. When we lived in the US, in a rented property, there were historical tree root problems, which meant that we saw the Roto-Rooter man about once per year. He talked about one client who kept on getting blockages due to Q-tips put down the loo, and every time he explained that this was not where to put them, he just got a shrug of the shoulders in response. So they had to keep paying for him to return.

[polygonum_on_google]

I keep wondering whether ordinary paper hankies are safe to flush? They always seem to be no more substantial than toilet tissue. (Not thinking about the heavy ones with multiple layers and embossed patterns. Just ordinary cheap ones.) If I happen to blow my nose in the bathroom, it is tempting just to drop it in the pan.

[Andrew]

I read somewhere that nappies could take 1000 years to biodegrade when sent to landfill.

Need to build more clean incinerators like that one in Denmark that has an artificial ski slope on its roof.

Andrew

[Davey]

I always thought that toilet paper was faster biodegrading than tissue paper so I throw my tissues in the bin.

[alan_m]

But they have to be biodegradable within minutes or hours of flushing to avoid the problems.

[alan_m]

Many sewers are built egg shaped, with the pointy bit at the bottom, so when there is little sewerage the head of liquid keeps the flow from stagnating.

[Tim+]

It?s a nice idea *but* incinerators can actually end up driving demand for more waste if you?re not careful.

I believe that in Denmark they don?t have sufficient domestic waste so have to import it.

Tim