In the sewers of Whitechapel, in east London, engineers from Thames Water – a private British company responsible for water supply and wastewater treatment – came across a monstrous mass about 100 meters long and weighing 100 tonnes.
It is the latest fatberg, renamed the “grandson” of the one discovered in 2017, an urban creature made of fats, oils, sauces and non-disposable waste which, instead of disappearing into the drains, has transformed into a real underground dam. Images taken by CCTV cameras show a compact mass blocking the pipes like an artificial rock wall.
How a fat monster is born
The mechanism is as banal as it is destructive. When cooking oil, meat sauces, cream, cream and other fatty residues are poured into the sink, they solidify when they come into contact with lower temperatures. That first layer becomes a sticky surface that catches wet wipes, cotton swabs, textile fibers and plastics. Layer after layer, the deposit grows until it creates a block as hard as concrete, capable of blocking pipes and causing dirty water to flow back towards homes and streets.
The numbers that explain the emergency
According to data from Thames Water, fats, oils and food residues are responsible for more than 20,000 blockages every year, accounting for 28% of all network blockages. The problem explodes during December and January, when holiday lunches and dinners multiply food waste: in those two months the intervention costs exceed 2.1 million pounds. A survey reveals that more than 40% of people have poured meat juice down the sink, 39% have poured gravy, 28% have poured cream, 21% have poured cream and even 10.5% have poured hummus – all perfect for fueling a fatberg.
Because the toilet is not a bin
The new underground giant is a concrete reminder: what ends up in the drains does not disappear. Used oils should be collected and taken to disposal centres, food residues should be placed in the waste bin, while only urine, faeces and toilet paper should end up in the toilet. Pouring boiling water or bleach doesn’t solve the problem, it just pushes it further.
Even in Italy, where the climate makes these phenomena less spectacular, the effects are the same: blockages, flooding, pollution and costs that fall on everyone. In short, the Whitechapel fatberg is the end result of thousands of small wrong actions done in the kitchen and bathroom.
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