Blockage nightmare for a home in Tisbury

These unpleasant images from an address in Tisbury show what can happen when wet wipes are flushed down the toilet.

Wessex Water is urging customers to only flush the three Ps – poo, paper and pee – after removing hundreds of wet wipes from a drain in the area.

Most wet wipes contain plastic and don’t break down like regular toilet paper when flushed, causing obstructions that can result in sewage entering people’s homes as well as rivers and watercourses.

Wessex Water’s Dave West, whose team cleared the blockage, said: “If you flush wet wipes, you are putting your home, our pipes and the environment at risk, which is why we always advise our customers to only flush the three Ps.

“This blockage shows some people still aren’t getting the message, so we are urging customers in the area to bin wet wipes instead of flushing them down the toilet.

“We also advise customers to bin wet wipes that are marketed as ‘flushable’. A number of companies state their wet wipes are flushable without passing the water industry’s strict Fine to Flush standards.”

The water and sewerage company clears around 13,000 blockages on its network every year at a cost of £5million, with wet wipes contributing to the vast majority of them.

More information can be found at www.wessexwater.co.uk/stoptheblock.