We can all get hit with a strike of bad luck every now and again. Things can accidentally fall into the toilet and get flushed away never to be seen again, like jewellery (and sometime wedding rings, whoops!). Then there are those items that shouldn’t be flushed down the toilet but unfortunately are, such as your child’s goldfish that you said had died. But above all, there are phenomenally peculiar things that have been found in sewers around the UK such as false teeth, footballs, sofas and cows (yes cows!) amongst many other questionable objects…
- A whole sofa – still fully intact and unbroken
- A fully grown cow
- Mobile phones
- A live frog
- A traffic cone
- Watches
- A roll of carpet
- A live Goldfish
- A Christmas tree
- Bikes
- False teeth – and many of them!
- Prams
- A live kitten – found in Northern Ireland Water sewage system (NIW) looking very scared.
- Teddy bears
- Footballs
- A live six-foot Mexican Desert King Snake at Dunfermline waste water treatment works.
- Wedding rings
For those of you wondering how a whole cow managed to get flushed down a toilet, this was not the case. Tragically, animals are finding their way into sewers via manholes. The covers are being stolen and sold as scrap metal, leaving the entrances uncovered and animals in a vulnerable position to fall into them.
Yet the drains that take wastewater away from households are virtually only a couple of centimetres wide. So understandably if objects such as false teeth and watches fall into them, they can become stuck very easily causing build-ups and blockages. Although this may not cause too much concern for homeowners, the bigger picture is more troubling as when pumping stations and sewers become blocked the sewage water overflows, entering rivers which can pose a threat to public health, the wider environment and surrounding wildlife. Not only this, but it is costing a fortune to sort out these problems. Scottish Water estimated that every year around £6 million of tax payers’ money is spent on fixing these blockages. Similarly Nottingham alone spent £450,000 to clear their blocked drains in 2009. Yet this can all be avoided with being just a little more careful. Fair enough, accidents happen but in future you should be sure to never intentionally flush inappropriate items down the toilet as just because you can no longer see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t still there, somewhere!
If you need help with your blocked drains, or for any further advice on how to avoid them, get in touch with Wildon UK who can offer a fantastic service for blocked drains throughout the UK.
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