London sewer workers were forced to confront the sum of all our sins this week when a 15-ton “fatberg,” a bus-sized mass made of fat and wet wipes, was discovered blocking sewage flow in the southwest part of the city. Workers found the mass after residents in the area complained that they were no longer able to flush their toilets.
According to local utility company Thames Water, the fatberg grew so large that it actually damaged sewer lines, which may take weeks to repair. They also advised residents not to pour fat from cooking oils down the drain or to flush their sanitary napkins. “We've never seen a single, congealed lump of lard this big clogging our sewers before,” said Thames Water’s waste contracts supervisor Gordon Hailwood. “Given we've got the biggest sewers and this is the biggest fatberg we've encountered, we reckon it has to be the biggest such 'berg' in British history.”
Workers dislodged and disposed of the mass using high-pressure water jets. The process took 10 days and the sanity of a dozen men. There is still no word on whether the mass had achieved consciousness at the time of its removal.