Water company warns customers not to flush toilet paper substitutes

Severn Trent’s sewer blockages lead, Grant Mitchell, said: “We know just how worrying it is for everyone at the moment and we want to reassure our customers that we’re working really hard to keep our essential service running as usual.

“Flushing the wrong things down the toilet is probably very low on everyone’s list of priorities right now, but by flushing the wrong thing down the toilet, you could end up blocking our sewer pipes, which could cause issues for you, or for your neighbours or out in the street, and no one wants that during this difficult time.

“So we’d just like to remind everyone that anything other than toilet roll shouldn’t be flushed down the loo in case it causes any problems.”

Sewer blockages across the region are still around 45,000 per year, three quarters of which are caused by people putting things down their toilets and sinks which they’re not supposed to.

Grant continued: “Sewers are only designed to cope with toilet paper and human waste. So some of the things people throw down the toilet, like wet wipes and kitchen roll, can easily snag on the inside of a pipe and block it. And, because some of the sewer pipes are only a few inches wide, any fats or oils you throw down your sink can build up on the inside of it, clogging it up, even if you rinse it off with boiling water.”

If you do run into problems, either with slow drains or a blocked sewer, it can be reported at stwater.co.uk.