Beware of jingle smellswarns Southern Water

Their Christmas carol Jingle Smells warns that pouring cooking oils down sinks and flushing wet wipes down toilets can cause blockages, leading to flooding of homes and streets.

Uploaded onto Southern Water’s YouTube channel, Jingle Smells is helping promote the company’s Pain in the Drain campaign.

In the last six months there have been more than 3,000 blockages caused by congealed cooking oil and wet wipes in Southern Water’s region, including 15 in Rye and five in Battle.

While the sewer on screen is a trick of the eye created by a 3D artwork, the problem of blockages caused by wipes and oils is very real – there have been almost 11,000 across the region in the last 18 months.

Jingle Smells heralds the return of Southern Water’s singing sewermen, the stars of last year’s rousing rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas, which has clocked up almost 3,000 views from around the world.

This year the sewermen hope to top that figure by drafting in a keyboard player and some serious vocal talent from around the company.

Having practised in their lunch breaks and after work, the singers are hoping that their efforts will encourage people to think twice about what they pour or flush away and help to reduce blockages and flooding.

To watch the song, and sing along with the lyrics at the bottom of the screen, visit www.youtube.com/SouthernWaterUK.