Southern Water had to act swiftly after a sewer stared to overflow on Victoria Parade in Broadstairs. They sent three tankers from contractor MTS to pump the sewage away on Friday night, after concerned residents phoned the water company when they noticed a strange smell.
Drainage engineers worked through the night on the problem, removing tonnes of excess effluent. The problem was found to be a blocked drain which was caused by the build up of cooking fat, which had inadvertently been poured into the drainage system.
Victoria Parade and John Street were closed while the works took place, but were reopened at around 8am on Saturday morning.
A spokesperson for Southern water stated:
“We are grateful to the customer who reported this leak to us. The leak was caused by a blockage in the main sewer in Victoria Parade.
“Our engineers were called and cleared the obstruction, which turned out to be a build-up of fat that had been poured down people’s sinks.”
Drainage blocked by cooking fats is becoming more of a problem for drain maintenance engineers, and cities such as London are blighted by people putting incorrect items into their drainage system.