Protect your kitchen pipes from festive fatbergs

With South Australian household kitchens heading into peak production tomorrow morning, SA Water is reminding cooks to keep the fats and oils from festive feasts away from sinks and drains, to avoid unwanted sewer surprises.

Fats from delicious roast meats and crispy potatoes can congeal and line the pipes under a home, or stick like glue to bind inappropriately flushed items like wet wipes, tissues and sanitary pads, into large fatbergs that create blockages in the sewerage network.

SA Water’s Senior Manager Media and Communications Joshua Zugajev said it might seem easy to turn a blind eye to tipping roast turkey fat down the sink, but the action could cause a sight that can never be un-seen.

“Fats and oils poured down the sink can build up until they cause a blockage in your property’s private pipe network that causes sewage to come back up inside your home,” Joshua said.

“There’s never a day anyone would wish for a sewer overflow in their home, but an overflow and emergency plumber’s call out on Christmas day will create memories for all of the wrong reasons.

“The impact is also felt in our sewerage network, with oily blockages stunting the growth of good, naturally-occurring bacteria required in the treatment process, and contributing to overflows in the street.

“By simply popping any cooled-down fats and oils, food scraps, coffee grounds or tea leaves in the bin instead of your sink, you can help protect your pipework and safeguard the environment.”

The message for SA Water customers to only flush the three Ps – poo, pee and (toilet) paper – has been particularly important throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with a lack of available toilet paper supplies seeing the utility record a near 30 per cent increase in sewer blockages from March to April.

“We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year keeping our sewers healthy from chokes and blockages caused by foreign objects, and we ask everyone to only ever flush the three Ps and place everything else in the bin,” Joshua said.

More information on tips to keep your pipes happy is available at sawater.com.au.

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