SEVERN Trent Water will be spending Christmas scraping turkey fat off the wall of sewers in Worcestershire.

Mark Reason, who has 27 years experience in sewer blockages, said: “This time of year gets very busy for our teams in Worcestershire because lots of extra holiday cooking means that a lot of extra fat, oil and grease end up clogging up our sewers, jamming up pumps and wreaking havoc at our sewage treatment works.

“No-one wants to deal with a clogged sewer or drain, especially over the holiday season. However, this is unfortunately when we see the most problems with blockages from fat, oil and grease.

“It’s easy to assume that the warm grease and fat left over from your Christmas turkey would be ok to dump down the sink, as long as you wash it down with a lot of hot soapy water.

“But the reality is that, eventually, the fat and grease will cool and solidify, then build up and block the drain or sewer and, with no way through, the waste water backs up the system, coming out of the drains, sewers, and potentially into your home.”

He advised: “It’s better to wipe out any greasy pans with a bit of kitchen roll or pour large amounts of leftover cooking grease into a pot or jar with a lid then put it in the bin. Alternatively pour your fat into one of our free fat traps - just visit our website, stwater.co.uk/fattrap for more information about how they work and to order one.

“But it’s not just fats, oils and grease that you need to think about. There are lots of other items that shouldn’t enter our sewers, such as sanitary products, kitchen roll, cleansing wipes, baby and facial wipes, nappies and cotton buds.”

More information about what not to put into the sewers can be found at stwater.co.uk/sewer