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Could this be Britain's worst job?
London is one of the most vibrant and modern
cities in the world....
But underneath its busy streets lies a hidden
world... where FATBERGS -- a congealed blend of lard and fecaes - are clogging up the system.
You can smell the fat as soon as you open
that man hole....
Chief Flusher Rob Smith has been clearing
London's Victorian sewers 19 years.
Each day, Rob and his team of 39 flushers
descend 6ft underground to tackle the sewage waste building up below the streets.
Without Rob and his team the network would
flood during a heavy storm and sewage and fat would end up on the streets of London.
You'll notice that this has got like a browny
consistency, yellowy consistency to it. This stuff is more solid. if there's a storm, then
it'll break off and then there'll be a big chunk of fat going through the sewer system.
One of the biggest problems the team face
are fatbergs.
Right we've just come into the area where
all the fat is.
Fatbergs are formed when waste oil is poured
directly into the system from homes and restaurants and congeal with lard and faceaes.
Here behind me you can see the fat that goes
on for about 80m. It's 450mil thick and I would imagine there's somewhere between 10
and 15 tons in that area.
To combat fat-bergs, Thames Water is now buying
the waste oil from restaurants and in turn burning it to power a sewage processing plant
in Beckton, east London.
Until the scheme is adopted on a larger scale,
Rob's and his dedicated team will to return to London's secret underground tomorrow to
continue the tireless clean-up job operation.
So is this Britain's worst job?
I'm very proud to be a sewer man. At the end
of today someone's got to do it. If you do any job, then why not take pride in it."