https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/12/550465000/behold-the-fatberg-london-s-130-ton-rock-solid-sewer-blockage
There are subjects one should avoid while eating. This is one of them.
Crews in London are working to unblock a section of the city's sewer system. The culprit, a stomach-churning, 130-ton mass of sanitary products and cooking fat. You might call it disgusting. Water company officials call it a fatberg.
In a weekend statement, Thames Water announced the fatberg's existence. According to the private utility company, the"rock-solid" blockage had formed under the city's Whitechapel neighborhood. Weighing roughly the same as 11 double-decker buses, the fatberg is one of the largest to form in the London sewer system.
"It's a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery to remove as it's set hard," said Matt Rimmer head of waste networks for Thames Water.
The Thames statement said an eight-person crew is working seven-days a week to clear the blockage, greasy chunk by chunk.
Equipped with high-powered hoses, the workers are breaking up the fatberg then transporting its remnants off site for recycling. Thames Water says the team is progressing at a rate of 20-30-tons a day.