Water Corporation reveals they responded to 1329 “avoidable” blockages caused by products that don’t flush

More than a thousand “foul-smelling” oily masses known as fatbergs blocked WA’s sewer network in the past year, the Water Corporation has revealed.

But the consumer watchdog has wiped it’s hands of the $1 million problem, putting the onus on politicians to stop people from misusing wipes experts say are not as flushable as their packaging claims.

It was revealed in State Parliament that the clumps of grease — which cancelled a sold-out concert at RAC Arena in February — disrupted WA sewers 1329 times in the past year, up from 1152 in 2022 and 918 in 2021.

The 44 per cent increase was revealed during a Budget estimates hearing, where Minister for Water Don Punch confirmed the clean-up was costing taxpayers more than $1 million a year.

“Water Corporation responded to 1329, preventable wastewater blockages, a significant increase on recent years, and those blockages represent real disruptions to the network,” Mr Punch said.

“850 were caused by fats, oils and grease that were poured down kitchen sinks, and 379 were caused by non-flushable items like wet wipes, paper towels, cotton buds and sanitary products.

“Those materials don’t break down, instead they combine with the fats and oils to create fatbergs.”

The trend is worsening again, after hitting a peak in 2020 when almost 3000 blockages — blamed at the time on COVID lockdowns — cost Water Corp $3.3 million to clear.

The Federal Court knocked back the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s case in 2020, when it accused Kimberly-Clark Australia of making false and misleading claims that Kleenex Cottonelle toilet wipes were flushable.

The ACCC claimed the wipes caused harm to household sewerage systems in the form of blockages. It cited 28 complaints to Kimberly-Clark from consumers about blocked sewerage pipes.

But the court ruled there was no evidence to verify that the Cottonelle wipes had caused the blockages. It was unable to exclude other possible causes “including the inevitable imperfections and defects that exist in the sewerage infrastructure”.

On Friday, the consumer watchdog confirmed it was not taking further action.

“The judgment from the Full Federal Court noted the potential impact of flushable wipes on water systems and suggested consideration of standards or legislation to address the issues,” an ACCC spokesman said.

“Since this time, the ACCC has not taken any further flushable wipes cases to court.”

Mr Punch described fatbergs as “solid foul-smelling masses that clog pipes, damage pumps and trigger waste-water spills.”

The cost of the clean-up is not the only consequence.

“As we all know . . . this year waste-water overflow caused a blockage in the CBD forcing the cancellation of the Bryan Adams concert at RAC Arena,” he said.

“It’s a pretty stark and very public reminder of what happens when we don’t dispose of waste properly and this is something that, through education and support, we hope that people become more sensitive to what goes down the loo and drainage.”

Water Corp maintains more than 17,700 kilometres of wastewater mains throughout WA and said it was investing “heavily” to stay ahead of the threat of fatbergs.

“This is not a result of network condition, but a national and global issue affecting modern wastewater systems,” a spokeswoman said on Friday.

“In 2023-24 we invested a further $88 million in capital improvements, including $24 million in asset renewals and $64 million on capacity upgrades.

“No system is designed to cope with the misuse of wastewater pipes.

“That’s why we focus co heavily on community education, encouraging people to stick to the three P’s: pee, poo and (toilet) paper and why we support national efforts to reform labelling laws.”

Mr Punch revealed part of Water Corp’s maintenance required them to remove solid, waste-covered materials, like rags and wipes, from the sewers.

“It’s dirty, difficult work,” he said.

“I do want to thank the people who are involved in that because someone has to do it and its not the easiest of jobs to do, they are doing a service to us all.”

Mr Punch stressed that fatbergs were “avoidable”.

“The solution is simple, it starts with all of us asking the community to think before they flush,” he said.

“And when it comes to cooking let fats and oils cool before scraping them into a jar or a bin but don’t put them down the sink.

“Those small actions make a big difference, they help prevent blockages, protect our environment and reduce the risk of costly and disruptive overflows.”

The shocking statistics come just months after a monster 30-tonne fatberg — the largest ever recorded in WA — was removed from the Woodman Point water facility in Munster.

The blockage was discovered following a routine maintenance check and took two days to be removed by an excavator.

The phenomenon is not unique to Perth.

Giant fatbergs have blocked sewers in New York, Denver and Melbourne.

But the biggest fatberg on record was found in London in 2017, weighed a whopping 130 tonnes and stretched 250 metres long — the equivalent of 11 of the city’s iconic red double-decker buses.