Stop the Block!

Did you know 4.6 million period products are flushed every day in the UK? While period products are designed to be absorbent, what you might not realise is that they don’t break down in water. Flushed period pads and tampons can block pipes and drains which can lead to sewer flooding. Find out about period product disposal by clicking the ‘change the cycle’ button below.

Change the cycle

Pouring fats, oils and grease (FOG) down the sink and flushing wet wipes, period products and other bathroom rubbish down the toilet can lead to damage not only to your home but also the environment.

Blockages in the pipes in your home or on your property can cause sewage to back up into your bathroom and kitchen leading to an expensive and smelly problem for you to fix.

A build-up of flushed products and FOG create fatbergs which restrict the flow of wastewater through the sewer network and reduce the capacity of the sewers. This can lead to storm overflows spills into rivers during heavy rainfall. Please help us to keep rivers cleaner and safer for everyone by putting all bathroom rubbish and all cooking oils and leftover food in the bin.

It’s often hard to know where a blockage is and who owns which bit of the pipework so it's worth having a quick look at who looks after what inside and outside the boundary of your home on our sewers and drains explained page.

If you’re still unsure, don’t worry. We’re happy to help and the quickest way is to visit our online tool here. If it’s our responsibility or we need to visit your property to determine responsibility, we’ll send one of our engineers out to have a look. We'll always try to let you know when we'll be able to get to you and, if it changes, we’ll try to keep you informed.

When we come out to look at the blockage, we'll confirm if the blocked pipework belongs to us. If it does, we'll clear it for free and try to investigate the cause of the blockage.

If the blockage is within your own private drains, unfortunately we can't clear it for you, but we'll try to offer advice on how you can sort the problem.

We know it can be very stressful if you’ve been flooded by sewage or your pipes are blocked and toilets won’t drain away and that’s why we want to do all we can to make sure you get the help you need quickly and with little fuss. So when the unexpected happens, simply click the link below to report the problem.

Report it here 

Disposable vapes, dropped as litter in our streets, are causing real havoc in drains, sewers and at wastewater treatment works.

According to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, almost five million single-use vapes were either littered or thrown into general waste each week in 2023. Unfortunately littered vapes are entering the sewer network via drain grids or gullies in the street.

These gullies lead to local waterways or to the underground sewers which take rainwater and wastewater from homes and businesses to our treatment works.

We recently discovered more than 50 vapes causing a blockage at a pumping station at Dalston, Cumbria.

The vape blockage took three days to remove causing damage to the machinery and impacting the efficient operation of the treatment works.

There is a risk of vapes catching fire because they each contain a lithium battery which can explode posing a significant danger to our sites and the surrounding areas.

Whether vapes end up in a waterway or at one of our treatment works, they can cause damage to the environment and need to be disposed of responsibly.

Single-use vapes need to be recycled. This can be done at household waste recycling centres using the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) bins or vape shops have dedicated bins to ensure used vapes are disposed of safely.