Overview

• Engineers removed a 125-metre obstruction more than 10 metres below street level using gas-monitored access, blasting, chiselling and suction.
• Thames Water estimated the mass—mostly wet wipes bound by fat, oil and grease—weighed as much as eight double-decker buses.
• Waste extracted from the Feltham sewer was craned into skips and sent to landfill after a specialist team spent over a month on site.
• The company reports clearing about 75,000 blockages a year, removing roughly 3.8 million wipes, at an annual cost near £18 million.
• The clearance follows the recent removal of a 114-tonne wet-wipe build-up by Hammersmith Bridge, underscoring a wider, recurring problem.