Surprising facts about sewers

It is often assumed that sewage work is grim and unpleasant, and sometimes it can be. Professionals need to service and maintain sewers & drains throughout the country. However, when cleaning a fatberg or working in a small space, this can be very unpleasant, even if this is not always the case. Here are some unique and interesting facts about sewers that you might not realise:

What most people get wrong about sewers

1. They don’t smell. Well, not always. Only 2% of what goes into the sewer is solid. Instead they have a kind of ‘soil odour’. In fact, at certain times of the day, especially in the morning and evening they can smell a pretty sweet aroma from all the shampoo and other cleaning products that are being washed.

2. This is where the internet is. Chances are if you use fibre optic broadband, the cable goes through the gutter. To avoid unnecessary and disruptive building work when launching fibre optic internet cables, companies often use existing sewer networks.

Architecture and modern sewer problems

3. They are actually quite beautiful, at least in terms of architecture. Most of our sewer systems were built in Victorian times. This means they are mostly made of bricks placed by hand. To see them is enough proof of expertise.

4. Wet tissue is not damaged. As you have probably heard in media reports and from water companies, you shouldn’t flush wet wipes. They are not damaged in water and instead hold on to fats, oils and fats that have solidified in the gutter, worsening the blockages that exist. Where drains do get damaged or blocked, rectifying issues can prove costly and invasive, causing much disruption. That is why many homeowners and businesses choose to use drain lining services instead to sort out the underground issues. For more information on a Drain Lining service, visit https://www.wilkinson-env.co.uk/sewer-repairs-drain-lining-concrete-cutting/

The people who keep sewers running

5. There are people whose works are entirely based on sewers. The role was made when the ditch was completed in Victorian times and they were known as flushers. At present they usually have fancy titles like sewer technicians, but they are still known mostly as flushers.

6. It is a miracle that many sewers still work as well as they do. As mentioned, they were built in the Victorian era to handle about half of the population we have now. But most are still strong. They are sometimes blocked but mainly because of inappropriate things that are thrown away.

Summary

This article shares surprising facts about sewers, including that only 2% of what enters them is solid so they rarely smell strongly, that fibre broadband cables are often run through existing sewer routes, that many Victorian-era brick sewers remain structurally impressive, and that wet wipes don’t break down and instead worsen blockages caused by solidified fat and oil.

Questions this article raises

• How much has fibre broadband installation relied on sewer networks nationally?
• Why do Victorian sewers still cope despite serving far more people now?
• What should people do instead of flushing wet wipes?