Throwing things like cotton buds, wet wipes and thick tissue down your toilet; and pouring fat, oil and grease down your sink can cause big problems. It can lead to blockages in your area, flooding in your neighbourhood, and pollution in your community.
As a not for profit company Welsh Water wants to work with our customers to reduce the cost of blockages – for everyone’s benefit.
Over the next few months Welsh Water is asking you to work with us to Stop the Block in your area. Look out for campaign posters and information locally. We’re also hitting the road with Capital FM to take our Beauty Block out to communities. These events are a chance to find out more about our campaign - and how things like beauty wipes, cotton wool balls and cotton buds cause big blockages - in return for a 15 minute free beauty treatment. Find out more about the Beauty Block roadshow now.
You can also click on the buttons below to find out more about what you can do in your home, workplace or business to help reduce blockages, sewer flooding and pollution in your area.
The Problem
Laid end to end, our sewers would stretch over 30,000km, or all the way to Australia and back. Looking after the network is vital for public health as well as protecting our rivers and coastline from pollution.
It’s also a full time job for our team. We deal with over 2,000 blockages a month and manage to stop flooding or pollution in 99% of cases. But the financial, personal and environmental cost of blockages is still too high.
Help us reduce the amount of unsuitable waste that’s thrown or poured into our network every day. Let’s work together to stop the block - and all the disruption it brings - in your community.
The Answer
It’s very simple. The only thing you should really flush down your toilet – apart from natural waste, of course – is ordinary loo roll. Everything else, from cotton buds to cotton balls, wet wipes to tanning wipes, can end up blocking our system. Bag these items if you need to, then bin them. But the main tip is to try and create less waste in the first place.
Anything you pour down your sink can end up in our pipes. Fat, oil and grease in particular cause us big problems. Small drops add up, harden in our network, and block our pipes. Please pledge to Stop the Block by not pouring anything other than dirty water and a touch of soap down your plughole.
Download our free posters and leaflets
