Northumbrian Water 'Barbarian' battles wet wipe flushers

Steve Green invented the "Barbarian" wipe tracker tool

A spiky metal device is being put in sewers by a water company to trace people who flush wet wipes.

Northumbrian Water said the tool, named the "Barbarian" by customers, had helped identify more than 200 "offenders" in less than six months.

The company said flushing wipes, even ones marketed as flushable, could have "devastating impacts".

The gadget's inventor Steve Green said it helped "identify blockages caused by wet wipes much earlier".

"Unlike toilet paper, wipes do not break down quickly in sewers and can snag or settle in pipes, which is the first stage of a blockage build-up," he said.

"When this happens and the sewage entering into the system has nowhere to go, it will start then to back-up in the network of pipes before causing homes, businesses or the environment to be flooded with toilet waste."

The "Barbarian" has helped identify 202 wipe-flushing households

The Barbarian is used in faster flowing sewers to catch wipes and pin-point where they came from.

Northumbrian Water said it was educating people identified as flushing wipes and warning that, if they continued to do so, they could be charged for clearing any resulting blockage.

Nearly two thirds of the 15,600 blockages cleared last year were caused by wet wipes, the firm said.

"Whatever the packaging claims, we'd urge customers not to flush wipes down the toilet," a spokesperson said.

"We continue to push for better labelling.

"There are some, far too few, that carry the water industry approved 'fine to flush' label, which symbolises that flushing them won't contribute to damage to UK sewers."