Only Santa knows what’s on Peppa Pig’s Christmas list this year, but she would surely want Mummy and Daddy Pig rescued from Wessex Water’s sewers after they were flushed down someone’s loo.
Miniature toy versions of the iconic children’s favourites were found at the company’s water recycling centre in Weymouth, where staff have fished out other weird and wonderful items in the run-up to Christmas – including an Owlette figure from popular kids’ show PJ Masks and a plastic spade that somehow made its way around the U-bend.
Wessex Water’s Sean Smith, whose team found Daddy Pig and friends, said: “These toys have had an incredible journey from the toilet to our treatment works, via a network of pumps and screens.
“We had to chuckle when we found them, although there is a serious message here that items flushed down the toilet can cause blockages and even sewage flooding inside people’s homes.
“We reckon Daddy Pig is a bit of an expert at only flushing the three Ps – (toilet) paper, poo and pee – to stay blockage free.”
Wessex Water clears around 13,000 blockages from public sewers on its network every year, with thousands more occurring on private drains.
The majority of these are caused by people wrongly flushing wet wipes and other plastic bathroom products, or pouring leftover cooking fat and grease down the kitchen sink. The combination of both can create monster fatbergs in sewers.
For more information about how to stay blockage free this Christmas and beyond visit wessexwater.co.uk/binit
