AI spots fatberg and gym weight blocking sewer

A network of sensors helped find the fatberg and gym weight before it was too late

A fatberg stuck to a gym weight was spotted blocking a sewer in Kent using AI.

The gunk-covered dumbbell was found under Chalcroft Road, in Folkestone, thanks to a network of 34,000 radar sensors, according to Southern Water.

It said there was a waste-water build up that threatened to cause "messy misery".

Blocked sewers are the single biggest cause of pollution, according to Southern Water.

This includes manholes spilling into streams, gardens filling with sewage and sewers backing-up into sinks, showers and loos.

Southern Water's Daniel McElhinney said: "The sensors take a weight off our minds and measure the level of sewage flowing under manhole blockage hotspots.

"The AI machines learn normal sewer behaviours, then can tell the difference between morning and evening rushes, rain in the system and a blockage forming.

"We're spotting hundreds of potential blockages."

High pressure jets are used to clear them.