In the spotlight... Callum Evans

Can you give us an insight into your role at Welsh Water?

I work as a Sewerage Operative in Wastewater Networks. I mainly work on a reactive basis, so that means attending jobs where customers have reported issues with their wastewater systems at their properties. This can involve anything from odour issues to blockages that have caused external floods – or in more serious situations, internal flooding, or pollutions to our water courses.

What does an average day in your role involve?

An average day as a Sewerage Operative is never boring. Because we work reactively based on the issues our customers report to us, we don’t know what the situation will be until we arrive at a job.

Usually, my day would involve arriving at the customer property and speaking to the customer to try and understand what issues they are experiencing.

Once I have all the information, it’s my job to trace the blockage using my camera equipment and locate where the blockage has formed and what is causing the blockage. Once I’ve found the problem, I can then look at the safest way to remove the blockage. I have several tools in the box that I can use to do this, including rods - which are long metal poles with plunger heads attached to the end, jetting equipment - which is a hose that connects to the van that pushes water out at high pressure and a device called a sewer boot which is a small metal box with holes that allows water to run through attached to a rod to catch the various items that have caused the blockage.

The main causes of these blockages are unfortunately completely avoidable and it’s usually always because of people flushing things that they shouldn’t. The main culprits that I see time and time again are wet wipes, cotton buds, sanitary products and fats oils and grease. The toiletry items are all made from plastic, which makes them extremely durable and means they don’t break down in water.

Instead, they form fatbergs in our sewers – which are huge masses of waste, wet wipes, cooking fats, and oils, that eventually blocks pipes.

When a customer experiences a blocked sewer, it can cause much distress and inconvenience, especially if they have restricted use of their facilities or have sewerage flooding into their gardens or even worse - inside their homes.

It’s my job to speak to the customer to tell them what’s happened and why and ways that they can avoid experiencing a blockage like this in the future.

Other causes can be a natural build-up of silt and stone or in some instanced with ground movement even collapsed pipes.

Can you give an example of a particular job that you’ve worked on recently that’s memorable?

Every job has its own challenges. It can be anything from access issues that makes finding the blockages very difficult, to large, stubborn blockages that need a huge amount of water and patience to clear.

One particular highlight for me is a recent job I attended for blockage that was cause by a huge build up of wet wipes. The customer called us to let us know that they couldn’t flush their facilities and that they thought it could be due to a blockage.

I spent four hours slowly clearing the blockage down and using the sewer boot to catch the wipes and remove them from the system. The mound of wet wipes that was removed was unbelievable.

Every customer that was connected to this line was shown the mound of wet wipes removed from the sewer to help educate them on the impacts of flushing things that they shouldn’t.

Our customers were shocked and horrified at seeing the effects of their actions and the damage that it had caused in their neighbourhood and pledged to only flush the three P’s. It’s important that our customers understand the issues caused by wrongly flushed items and the devastation it can have on homes, local communities, and the environment.

Knowing that I was able to play a part in help educating these customers about the impacts of flushing wet wipes and encouraging a change in their behaviours was very rewarding.

What is your favourite part of the role?

My favourite part of the role is that no job is the same. Every day there is a new challenge to overcome and something new to learn. I also love being able to put a smile on a customer’s face when the job is complete – it makes it all worth it.

Finally, as we look forward to summer - what are you most looking forward to?

I have a few trips booked with the family this summer which I am looking forward to. I also turn the big 3-0 this year which is exciting.