Workers Clear 1,000 Tons of Fat From London Sewer Under Leicester Square

(July 14) -- Sewer workers have cleared out 1,000 tons of compressed fat and trash from beneath London's Leicester Square, a tourist hot spot and venue for glitzy movie premieres.

Workers clad in overalls with masks and gloves shoveled out enough gunk to fill nine of London's iconic double-decker buses, utility Thames Water said in a statement.

Stewart Turkington, AFP / Getty Images

A worker lifts a shovelful of fat that has collected in the sewer beneath London's Leicester Square.

"We're used to getting our hands dirty, but nothing on this scale," said Danny Brackley, a sewer flusher with Thames Water. "We couldn't even access the sewer as it was blocked by a 4-foot wall of solid fat."

The fat is the product of Londoners' "sewer abuse" -- using the water system as general garbage disposal. Particularly troublesome is Londoners' habit of pouring used cooking oil down the sink. Once in the sewer, the oil cools, congeals and then traps other garbage.

Getting at the goo was not easy. Teams of workers, replete with breathing apparatus to protect them from the rancid smell, had to attack the fat with shovels. They then used water cannons to break down the "fatbergs" inside the sewer.

Thames Water is in the process of cleaning out the sewers under the whole of central London. The utility is battling the rubbish trapped under the city in famous locations such as the West End, where you can currently catch musicals such as "Billy Elliot" and, appropriately, "Grease."

Sewer abuse is at the root of half of the British capital's 55,000 sewer blockages a year, Thames Water said. The company spends about $18.3 million a year cleaning out blockages.

The drainage problems in Europe's second-biggest city are aggravated by the volume of bathroom products such as cotton buds and wet wipes that are flushed down sinks and toilets rather than thrown into garbage bags.

"Even if these products claim they're flushable, they're not," Brackley said. "We flushers know that from bitter experience."