Warnings sent to wet wipe flushing 'hotspots'

Internal sewer flooding had caused effluent to come back up into people's homes, Northumbrian Water said

A water company has warned residents in "hotspot" postcodes hit by blocked sewers not to flush wet wipes down toilets.

Northumbrian Water said it was focusing its investigation on areas of Bedlington in Northumberland, Skelton in Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees and Sunderland.

Certain postcodes had been the most "severely affected" by recent sewer flooding, including cases where effluent was pushed back up out of people's sinks, showers and toilets, the company said.

Letters have been sent to residents to give households who had flushed wipes the "opportunity to stop" before the company narrowed down the properties responsible.

The postcodes identified by Northumbrian Water are:

• NE22 5 in Bedlington

• TS12 2 in Skelton

• TS17 8 in Stockton

• SR3 2 in Sunderland

A wipe tracker tool called Barbarian, developed by the company, will be used to identify exactly where the wipes are coming from.

The spiked device is lowered into sewers to trap debris before it flows on.

Sewerage team leader Mark Wood said the vast majority flushed wipes stopped when the letter was sent and teams went door to door.

"A lot of it [flushing wipes] is not malicious," Mr Wood said.

"It is just a lack of awareness and, having that conversation, we do find that people stop doing it."

Bin the Wipe

Wastewater networks operations manager Benn Elsey said he had sat with customers who had experienced internal sewer flooding and knew it was one of the "worst experiences" people could have in terms of their home.

"It has a real impact on people's lives and emotional wellbeing," he said.

Mr Elsey added that wipes clog up the pumps that bring water to waste treatment centres and could make their way into the environment if there was a sewer spill.

Since launching its Bin the Wipe campaign in 2020, the company has sent hundreds of thousands of letters to postcodes in the north-east of England

Mr Elsey said they had seen wipes in the network decrease by up to 91% in areas that had received the letters.