Swift action halts major Horsham sewage flood: Was it cause of 'nasty smell'?

Southern Water blockage busters zapped a massive 50 kg fatberg in the Bishopric after reports that a sewer was backing up.

A spokesperson said: “Without the intervention the fatberg could have caused manholes to overflow and homes and businesses to flood or even led to pollution in nearby water courses.”

Now questions are being raised over whether the incident was the cause of a nasty smell wafting over the town. Residents blamed the odour on muck-spreading by local farmers – but now it has been revealed that the smell may have been caused by the sewer blockage.

Sussex area sewer network manager Roger Williams said the team arrived just in time. “Sewer blockages caused by wetwipes and other unflushables like sanitary products and nappies combined with fat, oil and grease from home cooking or food establishments are all too common,” he said. “Fatbergs are the number one cause of pollution in our area. Forunately, we arrived in time to destroy this monster.”

He said that Southern Water has greatly improved its response to fatbergs: “The addition of more than 20,000 artifical intelligence monitors which detect when sewers in blockage ‘hotspots’ are backing up is changing the game and enabling us to get to far more blockages before the problem turns into a crisis. But with 40,000km of sewers, it’s absolutely vital that people understand not to put the wrong things down loos or sinks.”

He added: “This blockage was on a major 450mm sewer so the chances are a food business is involved but domestic blockages are far more common. Most people don’t realise the sewer pipe is only the diameter of an ordinary orange.”

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Suspicions that a food business might not be disposing of kitchen waste properly has triggered an urgent investigation by Southern Water’s Network Enforcement and Protection team. “The team will track down where fat is coming from and pay a visit. Normally businesses will come into line and install grease traps as soon as they realise what’s happening but the team can and do mount prosecutions for businesses which fail to clean up their acts.”