Give NI Water an Egg’cellent Easter & Dispose of FOG in the Bin

30 March 2021 16:45

Another Easter in lockdown is upon us, and we are still at home, cooking and cleaning!  For some, preparations for the Easter dinner feast will begin and the most annoying question this year, ‘what’s for dinner?’ arises.  Whether you go traditional lamb or something alternative, please don’t pour the remaining Fat, Oil and Grease (FOG) down the sink or NI Water will be ‘hopping’ mad.

NI Water staff have continued throughout lockdown clearing the sewers of inappropriate items such as wipes, cotton buds, bricks, toys and FOG.  Give them an Easter that doesn’t involve cleaning out a fatberg!

It can be easy to assume its harmless to pour the excess FOG down the sink, it might even come naturally to you, when in actual fact, it is causing chaos for NI Water with major blockages in the sewer line that could end up in your street!

Gavin McCready, NI Water’s FOG expert appeals to everyone, “As fat, oil and grease cools, it solidifies; creating blockages in the sewerage system, which often result in raw sewage flooding gardens and homes.  The effects of this can be devastating for you and your neighbours and costs NI Water thousands of pounds per year to clear the blockages that occur.

“Everyone remembers the giant ‘fatberg’ found in London sewers which took weeks to clear. As interesting as this was, we have no desire to have one of our own and we are appealing to our customers not to pour their FOG from their Easter dinner down the sink.”

One way to dispose of FOG is to let it cool and solidify, and then scrape it into the rubbish bin.  The wastewater drain which runs from each house is just 4 inches wide and only designed for human waste and toilet roll.

You can view first-hand the damage FOG can cause to our sewers by viewing the following video on Youtube www.youtube.com/northernirelandwater.

ENDS