WATER company Severn Trent has revealed the strangest items found in the region’s sewers.
Among the weird and wonderful things flushed down the toilet were toys – including a Dora the Explorer action figure and Barbie’s partner Ken, false teeth, underwear, glasses, wallets, keys and cutlery.
Some of the bigger items were pieces of a garden shed, a chopped up bed frame and car tyres.
Grant Mitchell, sewer blockages lead for Severn Trent, said: “Over the years we have seen so many things making their way through the sewers, all you have to do is sift through the skips of unflushable items that are filtered out of the treatment process at our sewage treatment works, and you will be able to find all sorts.
“How some of this stuff has got in there is anyone’s guess, but it makes the job pretty entertaining for everyone.
“It does come with a very important message for everyone to be careful what you are putting in the sewers as it can cause messy and costly problems for all our customers.
“Although we see items like this at times, the thing we see the most that cause blockages are wet wipes and other ‘unflushable’ items such as nappies and sanitary products.
“We would urge everyone to keep in mind that only the three P’s should be put down the toilet – pee, poo and paper and bin everything else.”
In the past year, waste crews at the water company have managed and cleared an astonishing 28,782 blockages.
One of the biggest offenders of blockages is wet wipes. Even some that say ‘flushable’ or ‘biodegradable’ on the packaging don’t break down like toilet paper.
Other problem items include kitchen roll, cotton buds, nappies, and sanitary products.
Severn Trent has backed Government plans to bring in a new law to make it illegal to sell wet wipes containing plastics in England.
The firm hopes these ‘Sewer Stories’ will make people think twice about what they are flushing in the future.
Visit stwater.co.uk/my-supply/sewer-stories for more and anyone with slow drains or a blocked sewer can call 0800 783 4444 to report it.
