Mayor backs NI Water awareness campaign to ‘flush out’ costly sewer blockages

The Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Maureen Morrow, is encouraging people across the borough to support NI Water’s new awareness campaign aimed at ‘flushing out’ the issue of blocked sewers which have cost the company around £5M in the last two years.

Cllr Morrow joined NI Water’s Head of Environmental Regulation, Angela Halpenny, recently to launch the initiative, and heard that the main cause of sewer flooding is the flushing of inappropriate items such as baby wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products.

The Mayor said: “NI Water have responsibility for the sewerage system but we are all responsible for what we flush and the impact this can have on the environment.

“Blocked pipes can result in out of sewer flooding in the community in which we share, not to mention rivers and even beaches.

“We can all help in this battle by following NI Water’s advice and adopt positive flushing habits; remember to bin it, don’t flush it.”

Angela Halpenny said: “NI Water fights a daily battle with blocked sewers and this time we are ‘flushing’ out the worst offenders in a bid to reduce blockages.

“The main cause of blocked sewers and out of sewer flooding is the flushing of inappropriate items such as baby wipes, cotton buds and sanitary products. This means they are completely avoidable if everyone would adopt a simple habit of binning everything other than the 3P’s, pee, poo and paper.

“We are targeting our worst offending areas with an awareness campaign so if you find your town on the list, look out for our ‘blocked pipes flood homes’ adverts and see how we all have the power to stop it.”

Check out the bathroom checklist of ‘never flush’ items below:

• all wipes (baby, personal cleansing, toilet and household) - even if the pack says ‘flushable’
• sanitary items (sanitary towels, tampons, liners, applicators and backing strips
• cotton wool, cotton buds, disposable nappies and nappy liners
• condoms, incontinence pads, colostomy bags, used bandages and contact lenses

More information on NI Water’s campaign can be found at www.niwater.com