Southern Water team finds false teeth, toys, phones and 6,000 tones of wet wipes flushed down toilets over 8 months

Southern Water has disclosed some of the items that have been the cause of blockages – and some of the items flushed are very unusual.

Amongst the list of ‘unflushables’ is false teeth, mobile phones, toys, a pair of jeans and Christmas tree lights.

Over 6,000 tons of wet wipes and ‘unflushables’ have been removed from blockages over an eight month period which is enough to fill 750 eight cubic yard skips, stretching 2.75 km.

Southern Water clears over 23,000 blockages a year and the company has stated that 66 per cent of blockages yearly are preventable.

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Matt Collins, Field Customer Engagement Officer said, “We’ve had some unusual items found in the sewers, including false teeth, mobile phones, toys and even an inflatable life jacket. Other strange items include a set of Christmas tree lights and mobile phone, from the same blockage. We’ve also found a pickaxe end in Portsmouth and a pair of jeans in Southampton.

“The only things that should be flushed down the toilet are the three P’s – pee, poo and paper. For everything else - Bag it and Bin it.”

The company supplies 556 million litres of water and treats 13,371 million litres of wastewater every day.

Staff members have had contact with around 25,000 customers a year through door knocking, delivering talks, attending events and carrying mini projects within selected catchment areas in a bid to prevent these types of unnecessary blockages.