Utility Week

36 | MARCH 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Operational Excellence Analysis The war on wet wipes Northumbrian Water has taken the initiative in the battle against blockages, with the help of a device called the Barbarian and a knock on the door of nearby residents. Ruth Williams reports. N orthumbrian Water has developed an arsenal of tools in its war against wet wipes, including the Barbarian, a mechanical device that has helped the com- pany remove thousands of clogged up wipes from sewers. In 2019, 64 per cent of the 15,681 block- ages cleared by Northumbrian were caused by wet wipes so the company began a cam- paign called Bin the Wipe to encourage cus- tomers to play their part. The Barbarian is an evolution from its predecessor, the Porcupine. Its inventor, Steve Green, who works as a sewerage main- tenance operative, created the Barbarian for use in fast-moving sewers. The device works by being placed in sew- ers that have been identified as blockage hotspots. It starts at the mains and is then tracked by the team as it moves towards properties to follow blockages where high volumes of wipes are being flushed. Green says the teams have had great suc- cess with their targeted approach within certain postcode areas. When a property has been identified as a "foul flusher", the team visits the home to discuss with householders the problems non-flushable wipes can cause. Green says the face-to-face approach works really well, with people quickly understand- ing why they should not flush wet wipes, even if the packaging implies they can. "Customers are really receptive. When they see the problems blockages cause, they are quite shocked," Green says, adding that these conversations oŠen cause a ripple effect with friends and neighbours sharing what they've learnt. At the start of 2020 the company targeted around 1,200 properties identified as a block- age hotspot area and were able to achieve a 65 per cent reduction in the amount of wet wipes being flushed. This proactive approach is being extended into other hotspots. The growing family of tools is liŠed and shiŠed with the teams. AŠer the success of the pilot work in Stockton the team was given more funding to take on more employees and is planning to target 50,000 properties this year. Northumbrian now has four crews of two technicians dedicated to cutting prob- lems from wet wipes and actively engaging with customers about the problems flushing them can cause. As well as 27 Barbarians – which are best-suited to fast-moving sew- ers – the team has 10 Porcupines, 20 Goli- aths for larger pipes, 60 Stingers for smaller pipes, and six Sentinels that resemble nets to sweep and catch non-flushable items. Simon Cyhanko, head of wastewater net- works, says that with two-thirds of blockages attributable to wipes and consumer behav- iour, the company has made it a high priority to tackle the problem at source. "Blockages can result in sewer flooding inside people's homes, or external flooding in gardens or streets and even cause pollu- tion in the environment, including rivers and bathing waters," Cyhanko explains. "Protect- ing the environment and our customers from sewer flooding is something we take very seriously, which is why we've put a big focus on wet wipes, but everyone needs to play a part." Green says it is not necessarily the people who put wipes down their loo who experi- ence flooding problems; oŠen it is a home further down the network that can have issues. He says early in the first national lock- down the teams noticed increased amounts of kitchen roll and blue roll in sewers – when toilet paper had not been available. The company's Bin the Wipe cam- paign was one of its most engaged with on social media last year, with the Barbarian even gaining its name through its chan- nels. Although Northumbrian has not yet translated how the reductions in flushing wipes correlates to the number of block- ages, Cyhanko says the work on the ground, the marketing and social media campaigns, and the overall team effort is having a huge impact. Over the past few years the water sec- tor has collectively lobbied manufacturers of wet wipes to make their products safe to flush and to make packaging clear that most wipes do not break down and therefore cause problems. This has had only a limited impact as very few wipes have so far met the "fine to flush" industry accreditation. Green says: "I dislike the word flushable on wet wipes packets. All it means is it leaves the bowl. That means a T-shirt is technically 'flushable' – but you wouldn't put that down the loo." He's created a video for customers to see the difference in how wipes break down compared with toilet paper, and the social media campaigns encourage people to try it at home before flushing. "The vast majority of wet wipes will not break down in the sewer network," Cyhanko says. "Our approach is new and very differ- ent to anything that has been done before and what we have learnt will be used to provide information to the entire industry to help tackle this nationwide issue. "We can't be still having this conversa- tion in ten years' time. We are flooding cus- tomers now and polluting the environment, so we have to be ahead of the game working proactively." Ruth Williams, water correspondent Steve Green invented the Barbarian to tackle fast-moving sewers. Its name was arrived at by a social media campaign

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