Almost a quarter of Doncaster people are using their toilets and drains as bins
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Yorkshire Water is urging customers to ‘bin it, don’t block it’ after a survey found almost a quarter are using their toilets and drains to dispose of items that shouldn’t enter the sewer, increasing the risk of localised blockages.
Mark Hammond, head of customer field services at Yorkshire Water, said: “We know from our data that some areas of Doncaster are hot spots for blockages, which are often caused by people disposing of items into the sewer incorrectly.
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Hide Ad“Items such as fats, wet wipes and sanitary products don’t break down in the sewer and can join together to form significant blockages in our network.”
The utility company surveyed 348 people across blockage hot spots in Doncaster, Hull and Pontefract to understand how people disposed of wet wipes, cotton buds, nappies, sanitary towels, tampons, dental floss, tissues and cooking oils.
24 per cent of people surveyed in Doncaster admitted to flushing or pouring some of the items, which can cause blockages within the sewer network, down their toilets and drains.
Mark said: “To reduce the likelihood of blockages locally we’re urging people to bin any wet wipes, sanitary products, nappies and cooking oils rather than flushing our pouring them into our network.
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Hide Ad“Blockages can lead to people being unable to use their toilet due to restricted flows in the network, sewage flooding in homes, sewage escaping into the local environment or ultimately pollution to local watercourses.