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Sewer in London's East End Menaced by Giant Fatberg
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arthur wouk
2017-09-14 05:28:32 UTC
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https://nyti.ms/2eWLwPw

Sewer in London's East End Menaced by Giant Fatberg

By AMIE TSANG SEPT. 13, 2017

There is a monster beneath the streets of London, menacing the
East End underworld.

What has been named the Whitechapel fatberg is a rock-solid
agglomeration of fat, disposable wipes, diapers, condoms and
tampons. It was discovered to the east of the city's financial
district, occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel
Road, between one of London's largest mosques and a pub called
the Blind Beggar, where walking tours are taken to reminisce
about a notorious gangland murder.

Thames Water, the capital's utility, said the fatberg weighed as
much as 11 of the city's double-decker buses: more than 140 tons.
That is 10 times the size of a similar mass that the company
found beneath Kingston, in South London, in 2013, and declared
the biggest example in British history.

To prevent the contents of the sewer from flooding streets and
homes nearby, the utility is sending an eight-member team to
break up the fatberg with high-powered jet hoses and hand tools.
The task is expected to take them three weeks, working seven days
a week.

'It's a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery
to remove,' said Thames Water's head of waste networks, Matt
Rimmer. 'It's basically like trying to break up concrete.'

Such blockages are not unique to London. New York City has spent
millions of dollars on problems created by disposable wipes. Even
the ones branded as flushable were combining with materials like
congealed grease to upend plumbing. Hawaii, Alaska, Wisconsin
and California have struggled with similar problems....
--
--

“Don’t talk unless you can improve the silence.” ― Jorge Luis Borges
rumpelstiltskin
2017-09-14 17:42:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by arthur wouk
https://nyti.ms/2eWLwPw
Sewer in London's East End Menaced by Giant Fatberg
By AMIE TSANG SEPT. 13, 2017
There is a monster beneath the streets of London, menacing the
East End underworld.
What has been named the Whitechapel fatberg is a rock-solid
agglomeration of fat, disposable wipes, diapers, condoms and
tampons. It was discovered to the east of the city's financial
district, occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel
Road, between one of London's largest mosques and a pub called
the Blind Beggar, where walking tours are taken to reminisce
about a notorious gangland murder.
Thames Water, the capital's utility, said the fatberg weighed as
much as 11 of the city's double-decker buses: more than 140 tons.
That is 10 times the size of a similar mass that the company
found beneath Kingston, in South London, in 2013, and declared
the biggest example in British history.
To prevent the contents of the sewer from flooding streets and
homes nearby, the utility is sending an eight-member team to
break up the fatberg with high-powered jet hoses and hand tools.
The task is expected to take them three weeks, working seven days
a week.
'It's a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery
to remove,' said Thames Water's head of waste networks, Matt
Rimmer. 'It's basically like trying to break up concrete.'
Such blockages are not unique to London. New York City has spent
millions of dollars on problems created by disposable wipes. Even
the ones branded as flushable were combining with materials like
congealed grease to upend plumbing. Hawaii, Alaska, Wisconsin
and California have struggled with similar problems....
--
Once one has accepted and become reconciled to
the fact that the human race is utterly destroying the
planet and it's not going to stop, things like that are
comic relief!

It's still hard to beat the river repeatedly catching
fire in mid-20th-century Pittsburgh though. That
was reallly classic! If you told that story to a
caveman, he'd never believe you.

I didn't realize disposable wipes were so pervasive.
I've mostly only run across them handed out on
airplanes. They've always struck me as so frivolous
as to be amusing. Apparently you can squinch
passengers tighter and tighter until they can barely
breathe, and employ armed private police to drag
passengers off an airplane after they've paid for their
tickets and taken their seats, but as long as you give
out disposable wipes to the surviving passengers,
they'll know that "we care".
mg
2017-09-14 18:49:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by rumpelstiltskin
Post by arthur wouk
https://nyti.ms/2eWLwPw
Sewer in London's East End Menaced by Giant Fatberg
By AMIE TSANG SEPT. 13, 2017
There is a monster beneath the streets of London, menacing the
East End underworld.
What has been named the Whitechapel fatberg is a rock-solid
agglomeration of fat, disposable wipes, diapers, condoms and
tampons. It was discovered to the east of the city's financial
district, occupying a sixth of a mile of sewer under Whitechapel
Road, between one of London's largest mosques and a pub called
the Blind Beggar, where walking tours are taken to reminisce
about a notorious gangland murder.
Thames Water, the capital's utility, said the fatberg weighed as
much as 11 of the city's double-decker buses: more than 140 tons.
That is 10 times the size of a similar mass that the company
found beneath Kingston, in South London, in 2013, and declared
the biggest example in British history.
To prevent the contents of the sewer from flooding streets and
homes nearby, the utility is sending an eight-member team to
break up the fatberg with high-powered jet hoses and hand tools.
The task is expected to take them three weeks, working seven days
a week.
'It's a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery
to remove,' said Thames Water's head of waste networks, Matt
Rimmer. 'It's basically like trying to break up concrete.'
Such blockages are not unique to London. New York City has spent
millions of dollars on problems created by disposable wipes. Even
the ones branded as flushable were combining with materials like
congealed grease to upend plumbing. Hawaii, Alaska, Wisconsin
and California have struggled with similar problems....
--
Once one has accepted and become reconciled to
the fact that the human race is utterly destroying the
planet and it's not going to stop, things like that are
comic relief!
As a wise man once said . . . . . . me :-) . . . . . .
if an indian craps in the woods, that's fertilizer, if
millions of people do it, that's pollution.
Post by rumpelstiltskin
It's still hard to beat the river repeatedly catching
fire in mid-20th-century Pittsburgh though. That
was reallly classic! If you told that story to a
caveman, he'd never believe you.
I didn't realize disposable wipes were so pervasive.
I've mostly only run across them handed out on
airplanes. They've always struck me as so frivolous
as to be amusing. Apparently you can squinch
passengers tighter and tighter until they can barely
breathe, and employ armed private police to drag
passengers off an airplane after they've paid for their
tickets and taken their seats, but as long as you give
out disposable wipes to the surviving passengers,
they'll know that "we care".
b***@gmail.com
2017-09-15 01:28:11 UTC
Permalink
... It's still hard to beat the river repeatedly catching
fire in mid-20th-century Pittsburgh though. That
was reallly classic! ...
Just to set the record straight, the river fire was not in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania but, rather Cleveland, Ohio. If you lived in Pittsburgh
you had to sweep the soot from the steel mills from your porch hourly.

Cleveland, a major manufacturing city continued to pollute which
when paired with a lack in sewer and waste disposal regulation
maintained the littering of the Cuyahoga River. (we don't need no
stinkin' zoning laws)

On June 22, 1969, around 12pm, floating pieces of oil slicked
debris were ignited on the river by sparks caused by a passing train.
rumpelstiltskin
2017-09-15 12:22:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by b***@gmail.com
... It's still hard to beat the river repeatedly catching
fire in mid-20th-century Pittsburgh though. That
was reallly classic! ...
Just to set the record straight, the river fire was not in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania but, rather Cleveland, Ohio. If you lived in Pittsburgh
you had to sweep the soot from the steel mills from your porch hourly.
Cleveland, a major manufacturing city continued to pollute which
when paired with a lack in sewer and waste disposal regulation
maintained the littering of the Cuyahoga River. (we don't need no
stinkin' zoning laws)
On June 22, 1969, around 12pm, floating pieces of oil slicked
debris were ignited on the river by sparks caused by a passing train.
Whoops, sorry, I even checked an article about it,
and still didn't remember the city correctly.
b***@gmail.com
2017-09-15 17:28:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by rumpelstiltskin
Whoops, sorry, I even checked an article about it,
and still didn't remember the city correctly.
I think every country that goes through industrialization mucks up
the environment. The stories told about England, Russia and China
say we just don't learn.

I get a LOL when I hear people say we have to take care of the earth.
The earth will take care of itself: we are the ones who need to take
care of ourselves or we will go away.

"We have met the enemy and they are us." ~ Pogo
rumpelstiltskin
2017-09-15 19:07:34 UTC
Permalink
Post by b***@gmail.com
Post by rumpelstiltskin
Whoops, sorry, I even checked an article about it,
and still didn't remember the city correctly.
I think every country that goes through industrialization mucks up
the environment. The stories told about England, Russia and China
say we just don't learn.
I get a LOL when I hear people say we have to take care of the earth.
The earth will take care of itself: we are the ones who need to take
care of ourselves or we will go away.
"We have met the enemy and they are us." ~ Pogo
The Yang-Tze fresh water dolphin is extinct now because
of human pollution. That was one of the animals featured
in "Last Chance To See" by Douglas Adams (best known as
the author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
http://tinyurl.com/ya3v9rkb
(In that article, do you believe there's a city in China
called "Wuhu"?)

Adams wrote a fan letter to Richard Dawkins once, and
Dawkins immediately knew who he was, so they met and
became good buddies. Dawkins gave the eulogy at
Adams' funeral.

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