Drains warning for festive cooks

Cooked turkey

Cooks are being advised that their Christmas turkey could come back to haunt them this year.

Households in will pour around a quarter of a million pints of turkey fat down their drains over the festive season - leading to blocked pipes and big bills.

During the festive period, United Utilities said 25% more fat – about 500 tonnes – goes down drains in December than at any other time .

Cooks should pour fat into a container and then discard it in a bin when cool.

Engineers had to deal with an increase in sewer blockages, many caused by grease, fat, or oil solidifying in the pipes.

The company said flushing hot soapy water down the sink will not stop grease blocking the sewer as the surrounding ground keeps the pipe cool and causes it to sets.

Detergents that claim to dissolve grease may pass it down the pipe, but it can still settle out elsewhere in the sewer network.

The water and wastewater utility spends around £13 million to unblock items from the public sewers.

Tony Griffiths, from United Utilities said: "Fat and grease cause more than half the sewer blockages we deal with every year. At Christmas, the volume of cooking fat entering the sewers goes up dramatically - which can spell big headaches for our engineers, and for households.

"When the fat cools, it hardens, clogging pipes and causing wastewater to spill out into streets, streams, rivers and even homes and gardens. And it's not just our sewer pipes that suffer. Household pipes can get blocked too, resulting in hefty bills.

"We're advising all our customers to pour their fat and oil into a container, and once cooled, scrape it out into the bin. It's the surest way to avoid a messy and expensive Christmas."

United Utilities runs a campaign called Think Before You Flush, which encourages customers to be kind to their pipes, by avoiding flushing or pouring away items that cause blockages.

The company expects to deal with at least 28,000 sewer blockages in 2013. According to the Consumer Council for Water, three quarters of all sewer blockages - and half of all cases of sewer flooding - are caused by people putting items they shouldn't down the loo or the sink.

For further details on how to be kind to your pipes this Christmas, visit unitedutilities.com/thinkbeforeyouflush