1 00:00:02,700 --> 00:00:11,500 Across Britain, under the streets of our cities, something sinister is lurking... 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:18,800 ..an epidemic of monster blockages plaguing our sewers... 3 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:20,640 BLEEP! 4 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,280 ..known as "fatbergs". 5 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,440 These huge masses of congealed fat and human waste 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:32,280 are a product of what we flush down our toilets and sinks. 7 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,440 Let's go for a fatberg hunt. 8 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:36,400 RICK CHOKES It's horrible. 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:39,520 The battle against them 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,600 is now costing tens of millions of pounds a year. 11 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:44,360 HE RETCHES Fucking 'ell. 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,200 But why are we suddenly seeing more and more of them? 13 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:51,160 For the first time ever... 14 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:52,640 We're going in. 15 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:55,120 ..we're performing a fatberg autopsy. 16 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:56,480 Wow. 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,200 There's a lot of it. 18 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,680 I'm TV presenter and science enthusiast Rick Edwards. 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,520 It's ripe is what it is. 20 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,880 I'll be joining a team of experts to forensically dissect 21 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,760 a five-ton mass of fatberg... 22 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,760 taken from the biggest blockage ever found in the UK. 23 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,560 It reminds me of a dog poo that's been around for a while 24 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,040 and lost a lot of its colour. 25 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,840 We want to find out exactly what it's made of... 26 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:26,080 It's become a major problem. ..what it reveals about us... 27 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,840 Is that blood at the end of that syringe? 28 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:31,040 Anything we put in our bodies is going to end up here. 29 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,320 ..and discover just how big a danger fatbergs really are. 30 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:40,040 Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics could cause us problems. 31 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,120 They could kill you. 32 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:50,240 CAR HORN IN BACKGROUND 33 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,680 Midnight in one of London's most popular tourist spots, 34 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,200 the Southbank. 35 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:10,000 But our destination is not on the usual sightseeing tours. 36 00:02:10,500 --> 00:02:12,920 A specialist team from Thames Water 37 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:15,880 is tackling the latest fatberg to strike the sewers. 38 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:19,880 Presumably that is what I'm looking for. 39 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:21,160 Looks like a murder scene. 40 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:25,360 Evening, fellas. 41 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,960 Is Andy around? Yes, I am. Rick. 42 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:29,680 How are you doing? I've come down... 43 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,240 You're dealing with a fatberg tonight, right? Yes. Yes, I am. 44 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,000 I've come down to get stuck in. Right, cool. 45 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,720 Andy's eight-strong team, known as "flushers", 46 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:38,960 normally break up fatbergs, flushing them through the sewer. 47 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,240 How are you doing? Rick. Not bad, mate. This is Phil. 48 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,800 Tonight they're going to dig out five tonnes of fatberg 49 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:51,320 and hand it over for the autopsy. 50 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,680 And so do we know what we've got down there? Yeah. 51 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,680 Yeah? A large platform of fat. OK. Build-up of fat. 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,400 Probably been in there a fair few years. It's very, very solid. 53 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,800 And have you been working on this particular fatberg 54 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:09,040 for a while, then? We've been working on this one now 55 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,400 for about five weeks. 56 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,080 And how big is it, then? Have you got any idea? 57 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,360 This part's blocked. The next section is a 200-metre stretch. 58 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,840 That's blocked... Wow. ..and then from there it just carries on. 59 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,640 Fatbergs hit the headlines last year with the discovery 60 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:29,080 of a blockage that became known as "the Whitechapel monster". 61 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,400 It was 250 metres long. 62 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,360 The new fatberg, only a few miles away on the South Bank 63 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,800 of the Thames, is estimated to be at least three times longer. 64 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:44,320 TENSE MUSIC AND HUMMING 65 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,000 We're looking at a minimum of 750 metres. 66 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,880 That is an absolute monster, Andy. Just goes on and on and on. 67 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:58,080 Before work can begin on the extraction, a gas safety check. 68 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,040 Check your gas levels every minute or so. 69 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,320 Your life depends on it. 70 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,320 OK? One of Andy's main concerns is hydrogen sulphide, 71 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:12,080 produced by rotting sewage and lethal in high doses. 72 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:13,760 What we do is a dangerous business. 73 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,360 If we could find another way of having to do this 74 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,680 without putting the guys' lives in danger, we would. 75 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:21,840 H2S... zero. 76 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:22,480 CO, zero. 77 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,520 Right, OK. So, we good to go? Yeah. 78 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,040 It's only safe for trained flushers to enter this sewer. 79 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,680 Andy's chosen 21-year-old Adam, nicknamed "Manhole", 80 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:36,800 to go down first. 81 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:43,080 How long have you been doing this? I've been doing it... 82 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,600 about a year-and-a-half, almost. Yeah? 83 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:49,320 Erm, still not sure how I got into it, but here I am. 84 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:50,840 Why's he called "Manhole"? 85 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:52,280 Cos he couldn't lift the manholes. 86 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:53,880 THEY LAUGH 87 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,600 Right, you're online. So down... 88 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:02,240 Manhole's heading down with a camera so the team can assess the fatberg. 89 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,080 Check every step on the way down, please. 90 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:06,360 OK. 91 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:09,440 CLANKING SOUNDS 92 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:19,160 Yeah, he's landed. Release yourself, please. 93 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:20,800 Offline. 94 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,000 All right, nice one. Thank you. 95 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:24,800 Carry on with your entry. 96 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,200 To survey the extent of the fatberg, 97 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,360 Phil is monitoring the live camera feed from the sewer. 98 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,480 He's an experienced flusher 99 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:34,920 who's been helping to keep London's waste network flowing 100 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:36,680 for the last 12 years. 101 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,080 Is that all loose fat at the top there? 102 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,120 That's often how the fatberg starts, 103 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,320 with a little bit on top like that... Ah-ha. 104 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,080 ..and then more and more builds up 105 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,960 and then it just solidifies and grows and grows and grows. 106 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:55,240 Manhole has to wade through a thick sludge of fat 107 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,400 and sewage to reach the fatberg. 108 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:04,080 Yeah, still going. 109 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,960 I mean, obvious point, but it is rank down there, isn't it? 110 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:10,160 Been down worse! 111 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:11,920 PHIL LAUGHS 112 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:19,600 Fat, fat and lots of that. 113 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:21,040 PHIL LAUGHS Yeah. 114 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:22,400 What do you reckon we'll find in there, then? 115 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:29,400 Absolutely allsorts. 116 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,440 Fat, oil, grease. 117 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:32,920 Sweetcorn. 118 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,400 There's always a bit of sweetcorn in there somewhere. 119 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,200 Very resilient, sweetcorn, isn't it? 120 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,000 It is, yeah. If it's not chewed properly then it just, 121 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,080 it just holds form! THEY LAUGH 122 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:44,480 HEAVY BREATHING 123 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:51,360 There it is. 124 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,440 The tip of the fatberg. 125 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:54,720 Ah... 126 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,160 Quite a bit. This is serious blockage now, isn't it? Yeah. 127 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:07,440 What would happen if you just left this? 128 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,200 It would build up further and further 129 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,280 until the line completely blocked and, well, 130 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,800 then it would find its easiest course to come out, 131 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:19,200 which would most probably be one of the properties that drops into here. 132 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:21,840 So you'd start getting raw sewage flowing out 133 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,880 in someone's kitchen or something? Could potentially, yeah. 134 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:26,200 Oh, right. 135 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:27,880 That's why it needs dealing with. 136 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,800 This team of flushers are not alone. 137 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,360 Across the UK, water companies are dealing with fatberg emergencies, 138 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,080 with 23 cities reporting problems. 139 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,480 But the crisis is at its worst in London, with a sewer network 140 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:48,800 originally designed for four million people 141 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:50,400 now being fed by eight million. 142 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,880 Thames Water are currently dealing with 12 fatbergs. 143 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,360 Quite a lot of them. There is. 144 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,040 How many of 'em have you worked on personally, then? 145 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:04,200 Have you worked on quite a few? I worked... Yeah, I worked on a majority of these. 146 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,320 If you had to pick a favourite, favourite fatberg? Ah... 147 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:08,560 LAUGHTER 148 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,200 A favourite job. Million-dollar question. Million-dollar... 149 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,080 Erm, Knightsbridge. 150 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,120 Ah, beautiful. It was a higher class of fat. 151 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,200 You get what you pay for in this world. Ah-ha. And it was good stuff. 152 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,240 Was it all goose fat? Yeah, it was. It was all quality gear. 153 00:08:22,240 --> 00:08:23,400 RICK LAUGHS 154 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:26,960 The autopsy should help answer 155 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,800 why so many fatbergs are appearing across the country. 156 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,240 But before it can begin, we need to get the fatberg out. 157 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:36,240 So are you good? Yeah... 158 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,240 Phil's heading down to join Manhole 159 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,240 and take charge of the extraction. 160 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,400 Fat boy going down. 161 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,160 HEAVY BREATHING 162 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:46,760 Explorer One has landed. 163 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:51,760 Oh, yes. 164 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:53,040 Big fatties. 165 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,080 Yeah. 166 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:57,960 Right, Manhole, stand to the side. 167 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,120 Fucking 'ell. 168 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:04,720 The fatberg is so hard 169 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,880 the only way to remove it is to dig it out by hand. 170 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,480 We all good to go? Yeah. 171 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:12,240 Right, let's go. 172 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,200 PANTING AND SPLASHING 173 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:21,840 PHIL SPITS AND COUGHS 174 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:24,040 Bollocks. 175 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:25,160 PHIL STRAINS 176 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,360 PHIL BREATHES HEAVILY 177 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:32,080 PHIL STRAINS 178 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,080 PHIL STRAINS 179 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:55,920 Is that going to fit in the bag? 180 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:58,960 PHIL STRAINS 181 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:00,080 Ah! 182 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,880 Mind your head. Hold it. 183 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:07,680 Lift going up. 184 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:09,400 Oh! Oh, hello. 185 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,520 Oh, it's a good old lump of fatberg. 186 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,160 Right. 187 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,000 Prop her down. See that? 188 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,600 Yeah. 189 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:17,640 HE STRAINS 190 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:22,120 Oh, that's beautiful. 191 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:25,640 How much does that weigh, do you reckon, Andy? 192 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,160 Ooh, that's got to be a good 100-plus kilos. 193 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:30,240 Right, OK, so... 194 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,840 this is a lovely small bit. 195 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:35,680 It sort of looks like a crumbly cheese. 196 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:37,440 ANDY LAUGHS Yeah. 197 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,760 And there's tons and tons and tons of the stuff. 198 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:42,120 Is that a johnny? 199 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:44,400 Yeah, that's today's lucky winner. 200 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:46,160 THEY LAUGH 201 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,280 Ah, it's great to see a johnny, isn't it? 202 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,680 You break it up even further, you will find wet wipes 203 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:51,920 and allsorts in there. 204 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:55,160 One, two... 205 00:10:55,160 --> 00:10:58,760 Extracting five tonnes is going to take hours. 206 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,760 Once out it will be transported to East London for the autopsy. 207 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:12,160 This is Abbey Mills. Known as the "Cathedral of Sewage", 208 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,680 it was built in Victorian times to pump effluent out of the city. 209 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,320 It's now been taken over by a team of experts, 210 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,640 led by mortician Carla Valentine, 211 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,840 who's spent her career carrying out human postmortems. 212 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:43,520 This is where the science is going to happen. 213 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,160 This is where we are going to get to the molecular level of the fatberg. 214 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:51,800 By applying similar forensic techniques to a human autopsy, 215 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,680 we hope to discover exactly what these gruesome 216 00:11:54,680 --> 00:11:57,560 blockages are made of and why they're forming. 217 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:03,120 We're going to find out what exactly are Londoners' dirty secrets, 218 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:07,280 seriously dirty secrets, the secrets that they flush down the toilet? 219 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:09,360 And, you know, what makes it interesting, 220 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,640 you said it's a bit taboo, and it's a bit disgusting, 221 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,920 but it's important, because it does have an environmental impact. 222 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:22,360 It's two hours 223 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,440 since the flushers began extracting fatberg from the sewers. 224 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,800 Yeah, Manhole, go. Yeah, still going. 225 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,560 BEEPING 226 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:37,480 MANHOLE STRAINS 227 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,080 BEEPING CONTINUES 228 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,800 Manhole's gas alarm has detected the deadly hydrogen sulphide. 229 00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,280 It's reaching dangerous levels. 230 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:01,240 FASTER BEEPING 231 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,360 The team's priority has to be getting Manhole to safety. 232 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,160 BEEPING CONTINUES 233 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:19,200 Can we have an update, please? 234 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,840 For now, the rest of the fatberg's going nowhere. 235 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:24,800 BEEPING 236 00:13:34,450 --> 00:13:35,810 In east London, 237 00:13:35,810 --> 00:13:38,130 a team of scientists is preparing to dissect 238 00:13:38,130 --> 00:13:41,970 a five-tonne mass of congealed fat and human waste... 239 00:13:44,370 --> 00:13:47,250 ..to find out what's causing monstrous sewer blockages 240 00:13:47,250 --> 00:13:48,250 known as fatbergs. 241 00:13:53,890 --> 00:13:55,250 In central London, 242 00:13:55,250 --> 00:13:59,250 toxic gas has brought the excavation to an abrupt halt. 243 00:14:00,770 --> 00:14:03,890 BEEPING 244 00:14:15,770 --> 00:14:18,090 Right, that'll do. Let's just bring Manhole up. 245 00:14:19,450 --> 00:14:23,650 21-year-old flusher Manhole is being evacuated from the sewer. 246 00:14:26,770 --> 00:14:28,890 Out you come. 247 00:14:28,890 --> 00:14:32,090 That's it. Keep coming up. Sit back. 248 00:14:32,090 --> 00:14:36,330 In his hurry to escape, he splashed raw sewage into his eye. 249 00:14:51,050 --> 00:14:54,170 While Manhole flushes the excrement from his eye, 250 00:14:54,170 --> 00:14:56,130 the gas monitor gives the all clear. 251 00:14:58,250 --> 00:15:01,090 The next shift is sent down to finish the job. 252 00:15:01,090 --> 00:15:02,370 Go get 'em. 253 00:15:13,450 --> 00:15:14,370 OK. 254 00:15:16,450 --> 00:15:19,050 There you go. More fat. 255 00:15:19,050 --> 00:15:21,770 That's horrible. 256 00:15:21,770 --> 00:15:25,170 4am, and the final bags of fatberg are loaded up. 257 00:15:26,970 --> 00:15:29,210 Yes, Phil. 258 00:15:29,210 --> 00:15:31,370 You smashed it. 259 00:15:31,370 --> 00:15:33,650 Smashed a bit. How was it down there? 260 00:15:33,650 --> 00:15:35,890 Beautiful. Do you want a cuddle? 261 00:15:35,890 --> 00:15:37,450 Mm, no. 262 00:15:40,170 --> 00:15:43,250 Five tonnes of fatberg begins its journey across London. 263 00:15:50,010 --> 00:15:54,410 The destination - Abbey Mills sewage pumping station... 264 00:15:54,410 --> 00:15:57,330 ..where mortician Carla Valentine will oversee 265 00:15:57,330 --> 00:15:59,130 installation for the autopsy. 266 00:16:01,490 --> 00:16:04,570 It looks like it's going to take forever to get this down. 267 00:16:08,410 --> 00:16:12,610 Although carrying out human autopsies comes as second nature to me, 268 00:16:12,610 --> 00:16:15,650 with this one I'm in unfamiliar territory. 269 00:16:17,290 --> 00:16:20,330 I think I thought it would be more yellowy in colour, 270 00:16:20,330 --> 00:16:22,850 and it's actually just a bit more like a dog poo 271 00:16:22,850 --> 00:16:26,770 that's been around for a while and lost a lot of its colour. 272 00:16:26,770 --> 00:16:29,330 It reminds me of an autopsy where we've got quite a natural 273 00:16:29,330 --> 00:16:31,330 sort of very slight faecal smell 274 00:16:31,330 --> 00:16:33,330 that everybody tends to have after they've died. 275 00:16:33,330 --> 00:16:34,610 It reminds me of that. 276 00:16:37,490 --> 00:16:40,130 The amount of fatberg is very intimidating. 277 00:16:40,130 --> 00:16:42,170 We have to get through it all. 278 00:16:49,050 --> 00:16:52,050 It's quite sci-fi. It's quite exciting, you know. 279 00:16:52,050 --> 00:16:53,170 It's very unusual. 280 00:16:57,970 --> 00:16:59,410 OK. I'm going in. 281 00:17:01,730 --> 00:17:04,410 Oh. Wow. 282 00:17:07,090 --> 00:17:11,410 There it is, in all its hideous glory. 283 00:17:12,650 --> 00:17:14,050 There's a lot of it. 284 00:17:20,450 --> 00:17:24,010 The team will work their way through the five tonnes of fatberg, 285 00:17:24,010 --> 00:17:26,570 starting in the trough, where the chunks will be 286 00:17:26,570 --> 00:17:30,210 hacked into smaller pieces by a team of Thames Water flushers. 287 00:17:33,810 --> 00:17:37,850 The bite-sized nuggets will then be sent to the dissection table, 288 00:17:37,850 --> 00:17:40,090 where any foreign objects will be removed. 289 00:17:43,570 --> 00:17:46,290 Next, the trays of sifted fatberg will be 290 00:17:46,290 --> 00:17:48,290 analysed by the science teams. 291 00:17:49,650 --> 00:17:52,730 They'll look at its composition and the living organisms 292 00:17:52,730 --> 00:17:55,170 and toxic substances it contains. 293 00:17:57,890 --> 00:18:00,170 Whatever they find will be the result of what 294 00:18:00,170 --> 00:18:03,290 we flush down the loo or wash down the sink. 295 00:18:03,290 --> 00:18:05,970 Oh, my God. Did you get a tampon applicator there? 296 00:18:05,970 --> 00:18:08,130 They're not supposed to be flushed, I know that. 297 00:18:10,170 --> 00:18:12,650 How you doing? Are you excited? Yeah, I am excited, actually. 298 00:18:12,650 --> 00:18:14,610 Of course you are. You're like a pig in fatberg. 299 00:18:14,610 --> 00:18:18,770 That's exactly what I'm like. What's the plan, then? What's the approach we're going to take? 300 00:18:18,770 --> 00:18:21,690 With an autopsy, a human autopsy, you're looking for cause of death. 301 00:18:21,690 --> 00:18:25,250 Here we're trying to work out how this thing is formed. Exactly, yeah. 302 00:18:25,250 --> 00:18:27,050 We normally look for why a person died, 303 00:18:27,050 --> 00:18:29,650 here we're looking for why this lives, in a way. 304 00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:32,450 You know, why does it exist? What is it? Oh! 305 00:18:32,450 --> 00:18:34,290 Oh! 306 00:18:34,290 --> 00:18:35,730 What do we think that is? 307 00:18:35,730 --> 00:18:38,210 I don't know, but I'm never eating a meatball again. 308 00:18:41,330 --> 00:18:44,090 While the team get on with breaking up the fatberg 309 00:18:44,090 --> 00:18:45,610 in the main trough... 310 00:18:45,610 --> 00:18:47,850 What does it feel like when you're actually sawing it? 311 00:18:47,850 --> 00:18:52,130 It's extremely tough. It's basically one big solid lump. 312 00:18:52,130 --> 00:18:54,890 ..things are progressing at the dissection table. 313 00:18:57,370 --> 00:19:01,090 The contents of the fatberg are painstakingly combed through. 314 00:19:03,010 --> 00:19:07,210 Hello, gang. How are we getting on? Good, really good. Ah. 315 00:19:07,210 --> 00:19:10,490 Definitely paints a bit of a picture, doesn't it? It does. 316 00:19:10,490 --> 00:19:13,770 This is what you dirty bastards are flushing down the toilet, is it? 317 00:19:15,370 --> 00:19:17,970 This, of course, a johnny. It is. 318 00:19:17,970 --> 00:19:22,810 We've got a little bit of a wrapper as well there. OK. The complete set. 319 00:19:22,810 --> 00:19:24,530 Oh, hang on. Is that a worm? 320 00:19:24,530 --> 00:19:26,850 Yeah, we have a few worms here and there. 321 00:19:26,850 --> 00:19:28,090 Hello, mate. 322 00:19:28,090 --> 00:19:32,170 I think we've found something that looks like a drug bag. 323 00:19:32,170 --> 00:19:34,370 Yeah, a drugs bag. A little baggie. 324 00:19:34,370 --> 00:19:37,010 So obviously someone has been like, "Ah, the police, the police. 325 00:19:37,010 --> 00:19:40,330 "Flush it down the toilet quickly." Obviously. Yeah, sure. 326 00:19:40,330 --> 00:19:44,290 Is this all wet wipes, this...? Pile of wet wipes there. Yeah. 327 00:19:44,290 --> 00:19:47,210 Oh, a needle and syringe. 328 00:19:47,210 --> 00:19:49,410 That is absolutely rank. It is. 329 00:19:52,210 --> 00:19:54,050 As much fun as this is, 330 00:19:54,050 --> 00:19:57,450 it's also a sobering window into our lives above the sewer. 331 00:20:07,610 --> 00:20:10,970 Once objects are removed, pure fatberg remains 332 00:20:10,970 --> 00:20:13,610 for the science team to take a closer look at. 333 00:20:17,130 --> 00:20:21,130 Chemist Dr James Barker is analysing the fatberg to see what type 334 00:20:21,130 --> 00:20:22,650 of fat it's made of. 335 00:20:24,690 --> 00:20:26,810 In each flask is a different ingredient that we found 336 00:20:26,810 --> 00:20:28,170 in the fatberg. Right. 337 00:20:28,170 --> 00:20:31,330 And they're roughly in proportion to what we've found. 338 00:20:31,330 --> 00:20:35,610 First, two fats found in the smallest quantities. 339 00:20:35,610 --> 00:20:39,170 These are basically present in many household health care 340 00:20:39,170 --> 00:20:43,170 products such as cocoa butter, shaving foams, in shampoo. 341 00:20:43,170 --> 00:20:45,570 Right, OK. And I suppose that's a tough one, because that 342 00:20:45,570 --> 00:20:48,290 kind of thing is going to have to go down the drain, isn't it, really? 343 00:20:48,290 --> 00:20:50,650 Cos you wash your hair, wash your face. Absolutely. 344 00:20:50,650 --> 00:20:53,210 It's quite ironic, isn't it, that these are cleaning products 345 00:20:53,210 --> 00:20:56,370 but they end up down the drain and blocking the drain. Yeah. 346 00:20:56,370 --> 00:21:00,130 So, what about the fats which are found in the largest quantities? 347 00:21:00,130 --> 00:21:03,890 This is oleic acid. Basically, olive oil. 348 00:21:03,890 --> 00:21:08,410 And by far the majority of the fatberg appears to be 349 00:21:08,410 --> 00:21:11,370 composed of palmitic acid. 350 00:21:11,370 --> 00:21:15,290 Right, which is cooking oil? Yeah, cooking oil, yeah. 351 00:21:15,290 --> 00:21:20,490 Cooking oil makes up nearly 90% of the fat in our fatberg sample. 352 00:21:20,490 --> 00:21:23,730 But how does liquid oil turn into the hard fetid mass 353 00:21:23,730 --> 00:21:25,490 that we're dissecting? 354 00:21:25,490 --> 00:21:30,290 Dr Raffi Villa thinks she may have found the answer. 355 00:21:30,290 --> 00:21:34,330 So, Raffi, I've seen the fat aspect of the fatberg and, you know, 356 00:21:34,330 --> 00:21:37,770 we can take some chunks and you can feel a slight softness, 357 00:21:37,770 --> 00:21:41,570 but it's not like fat. It's not yellow, it's not gooey. 358 00:21:41,570 --> 00:21:44,330 What on earth is actually in this stuff? 359 00:21:44,330 --> 00:21:48,450 It's not just the fat congealing or solidifying. 360 00:21:48,450 --> 00:21:54,570 We've got another process happening in the sewers, saponification, it's called saponification. 361 00:21:54,570 --> 00:21:59,610 Saponification means just to change into soap, doesn't it? Correct, correct. 362 00:21:59,610 --> 00:22:03,450 In the sewer, the fat mixes with calcium carried in the water supply, 363 00:22:03,450 --> 00:22:07,410 kicking off a chemical process that turns it into soap. 364 00:22:08,530 --> 00:22:12,610 But you wouldn't want to wash with this, basically? Definitely not. 365 00:22:12,610 --> 00:22:15,170 So we have a picture of what Londoners are flushing 366 00:22:15,170 --> 00:22:16,970 down their drains - 367 00:22:16,970 --> 00:22:20,450 from huge amounts of cooking oil that turns into soap, 368 00:22:20,450 --> 00:22:22,210 to condoms and syringes. 369 00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:27,010 It all becomes part of the fatberg. 370 00:22:29,570 --> 00:22:31,250 I'm going in. 371 00:22:31,250 --> 00:22:33,290 Next, we head back underground 372 00:22:33,290 --> 00:22:36,130 in one of London's busiest restaurant districts... 373 00:22:36,130 --> 00:22:38,570 The smell in here, it's ripe, is what it is. 374 00:22:38,570 --> 00:22:41,650 ..to inspect yet another newly forming fatberg. 375 00:22:41,650 --> 00:22:43,410 That's fat. 376 00:22:43,410 --> 00:22:46,410 HE COUGHS Oh, it is horrible. 377 00:22:54,130 --> 00:22:56,530 In a makeshift lab in east London, 378 00:22:56,530 --> 00:22:59,930 a team of scientists is on an extraordinary mission to find 379 00:22:59,930 --> 00:23:01,610 out what's causing an epidemic 380 00:23:01,610 --> 00:23:04,010 of monster sewer blockages called fatbergs. 381 00:23:08,810 --> 00:23:12,370 So far, we've discovered that cooking oil is a key culprit. 382 00:23:20,850 --> 00:23:23,130 Chinatown in central London. 383 00:23:23,130 --> 00:23:27,850 Home to 79 eating establishments in the space of just two streets. 384 00:23:27,850 --> 00:23:30,570 That means a lot of cooking oil going down the drains. 385 00:23:32,770 --> 00:23:35,850 The Thames Water flushers regularly monitor the sewers 386 00:23:35,850 --> 00:23:37,650 in London's restaurant districts 387 00:23:37,650 --> 00:23:39,690 to keep an eye out for fledgling fatbergs. 388 00:23:40,810 --> 00:23:44,290 Hello, fellas. Oh, hiya. How are you doing? Rick. Hello, Rick. 389 00:23:44,290 --> 00:23:46,690 I'm Vince. Hello, Vince. How are you? Fine, thanks very much. 390 00:23:48,210 --> 00:23:52,130 Today, veteran flusher Vince is on inspection duty. 391 00:23:52,130 --> 00:23:53,290 So, what's the plan then, 392 00:23:53,290 --> 00:23:56,330 are we just doing a sort of inspection today? Yes. 393 00:23:56,330 --> 00:24:01,290 Check and make sure it's not getting to a stage where it's become urgent. 394 00:24:03,730 --> 00:24:07,250 With no extraction planned for today, there's less chance 395 00:24:07,250 --> 00:24:09,730 of disturbing pockets of dangerous gas. 396 00:24:09,730 --> 00:24:12,770 Feel like a Ghostbuster! In a good way. OK. 397 00:24:12,770 --> 00:24:14,850 So we'll give you a gas detector. 398 00:24:14,850 --> 00:24:18,250 So it's safe for visitors to go down. Are you ready for me, Vince? 399 00:24:18,250 --> 00:24:19,690 Yeah, come on down! 400 00:24:23,330 --> 00:24:26,050 Oh! Just getting a little, um... 401 00:24:26,050 --> 00:24:27,410 ..a little bit of a whiff. 402 00:24:29,570 --> 00:24:30,890 Oh, it's quite lively, actually. 403 00:24:34,570 --> 00:24:36,330 The smell... 404 00:24:36,330 --> 00:24:38,610 It's ripe, is what it is. I'm going in. 405 00:24:39,970 --> 00:24:42,090 Well, what's the worst that can happen? 406 00:24:42,090 --> 00:24:44,090 Actually, don't think about that. Oh! 407 00:24:45,210 --> 00:24:48,810 Just lean over and have a look for yourself. Yeah, yeah. 408 00:24:50,370 --> 00:24:51,730 Ah! 409 00:24:53,890 --> 00:24:55,450 So it's not moving, is it? No. 410 00:24:57,690 --> 00:25:01,530 Sewers should be free-flowing but this one is completely solid. 411 00:25:03,650 --> 00:25:07,010 Ah, look at that. That's a crust. Look at that - that's a crust. 412 00:25:07,010 --> 00:25:11,370 So I'm standing on fat and you can smell what I've disturbed. Yeah. 413 00:25:11,370 --> 00:25:15,170 Get an extra whiff on that side? I can, I can. 414 00:25:15,170 --> 00:25:16,170 Do you know, I feel sick. 415 00:25:18,090 --> 00:25:19,610 Am I going to be sick? 416 00:25:19,610 --> 00:25:22,090 No, I'm all right. I'm all right. 417 00:25:22,090 --> 00:25:23,930 VINCE LAUGHS, RICK COUGHS 418 00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:26,050 No, hang on. 419 00:25:26,050 --> 00:25:27,850 RICK CONTINUES COUGHING Oh, it is horrible! 420 00:25:29,250 --> 00:25:32,570 Don't squat too low, you'll put your backside in it. Yeah, OK. 421 00:25:33,930 --> 00:25:38,210 The oily sludge is a sign a new fatberg is forming. 422 00:25:38,210 --> 00:25:40,490 Another one to add to the ever-growing list 423 00:25:40,490 --> 00:25:43,410 of fatbergs clogging up the country. It's not good. 424 00:25:43,410 --> 00:25:47,050 And this is all pretty much coming from... Restaurants. 425 00:25:47,050 --> 00:25:49,210 This is predominantly restaurants. 426 00:25:49,210 --> 00:25:52,010 There are some sewers, when I started, 427 00:25:52,010 --> 00:25:55,690 that never seemed to have fat issues but now they do. 428 00:25:57,530 --> 00:26:01,210 So it's definitely a deteriorating problem. 429 00:26:01,210 --> 00:26:07,970 How long will this sort of quite gooey, fresh, fat take to solidify? 430 00:26:07,970 --> 00:26:09,610 Well, it could be six months. 431 00:26:09,610 --> 00:26:12,610 It tends to build up at the tide line, build up and build up of the walls 432 00:26:12,610 --> 00:26:17,090 and then eventually bridge the sewer and then you've got a full blockage. 433 00:26:19,850 --> 00:26:22,330 Well, I think I've had enough. What about you? 434 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:26,010 Yeah, I think I've had enough now. I get the idea, Vince. 435 00:26:26,010 --> 00:26:27,330 Ah, yeah! 436 00:26:27,330 --> 00:26:31,490 I, um, I was very nearly, I was very nearly sick. 437 00:26:31,490 --> 00:26:33,250 There's a real accumulation of fat. 438 00:26:34,490 --> 00:26:36,610 Very different in appearance 439 00:26:36,610 --> 00:26:41,010 and sort of feel to the fatberg that I'd seen before. 440 00:26:42,170 --> 00:26:45,690 I guess just cos it's much younger, but there's a lot of fat 441 00:26:45,690 --> 00:26:48,770 coming from these restaurants down into that sewer, clearly. 442 00:26:50,050 --> 00:26:52,290 I think, I mean I'm not really built for it. 443 00:26:52,290 --> 00:26:54,210 I do think I'm just a bit too tall for the sewers! 444 00:26:56,410 --> 00:26:59,570 The findings of today's inspection are an all too familiar 445 00:26:59,570 --> 00:27:02,290 story for the flushers these days. 446 00:27:02,290 --> 00:27:05,010 I think we need to do something about that. 447 00:27:05,010 --> 00:27:07,610 It's a lot worse than I was actually expecting to find. 448 00:27:07,610 --> 00:27:10,890 And is there anything to be said for going around 449 00:27:10,890 --> 00:27:13,730 to the local restaurants? Definitely. 450 00:27:13,730 --> 00:27:14,890 Get the odd prosecution. 451 00:27:14,890 --> 00:27:18,450 Maybe that's what will have to be the next step. 452 00:27:18,450 --> 00:27:23,610 A few more prosecutions, unfortunately, to get the message across. Maybe. 453 00:27:23,610 --> 00:27:25,930 Right, well, I'd shake your hand but your hands are... 454 00:27:25,930 --> 00:27:28,650 Is this one all right? That's all right. I'll shake that one. 455 00:27:28,650 --> 00:27:31,210 You can wash your hands again! 456 00:27:34,690 --> 00:27:38,850 It's clear our love of eating out is fuelling fatbergs. 457 00:27:38,850 --> 00:27:41,370 There's a lump of fat. 458 00:27:41,370 --> 00:27:44,810 And it's flushers like Vince whose job is being made harder 459 00:27:44,810 --> 00:27:47,570 dealing with the gunk they create in the sewer. 460 00:27:47,570 --> 00:27:48,650 It's all fat. 461 00:27:48,650 --> 00:27:51,090 But are fatbergs simply an inconvenience 462 00:27:51,090 --> 00:27:53,210 or is there something more sinister going on? 463 00:27:58,570 --> 00:28:01,530 Back at the autopsy, our team of scientists are trying to 464 00:28:01,530 --> 00:28:04,170 discover exactly what nasties and living in the fatberg. 465 00:28:05,770 --> 00:28:07,770 Oh, my God, Jo! I am seeing 466 00:28:07,770 --> 00:28:11,210 some quite frightening images here on the screen. 467 00:28:11,210 --> 00:28:13,050 What on earth are we looking at here? 468 00:28:13,050 --> 00:28:16,610 OK, so what we've found in your fatberg were some tiny 469 00:28:16,610 --> 00:28:18,850 little microscopic worms. Right. 470 00:28:18,850 --> 00:28:21,010 And they're feeding away quite happily on fatberg. 471 00:28:22,850 --> 00:28:25,530 Although they look scary, these microorganisms are harmless. 472 00:28:25,530 --> 00:28:29,250 But what else is growing in the fetid mass of fat? 473 00:28:31,970 --> 00:28:36,250 Dr Justin Pashebat is testing for pathogenic bacteria by smearing 474 00:28:36,250 --> 00:28:39,890 small samples of our fatberg onto different coloured agar dishes. 475 00:28:41,210 --> 00:28:43,290 Why are they all these different colours then? 476 00:28:43,290 --> 00:28:45,370 They've got all sorts of different colours 477 00:28:45,370 --> 00:28:47,290 in there for different bacteria. 478 00:28:47,290 --> 00:28:50,810 So the green plate that you're streaking out at the moment, 479 00:28:50,810 --> 00:28:55,570 that is going to be Listeria, which gives you diarrhoea and vomiting. 480 00:28:55,570 --> 00:28:56,570 Right. 481 00:28:56,570 --> 00:29:00,370 We're testing for a variety of bacteria which are known to make us ill. 482 00:29:02,010 --> 00:29:05,050 These ones here, which are the really deep black ones, 483 00:29:05,050 --> 00:29:09,290 they're actually for campylobacter, which you often find in raw chicken. 484 00:29:09,290 --> 00:29:12,170 That causes a lot of gastroenteritis, so food poisoning. 485 00:29:13,370 --> 00:29:15,650 Justin will get the results of the tests later 486 00:29:15,650 --> 00:29:19,610 and find out how big a health hazard this fatberg really is. 487 00:29:21,290 --> 00:29:24,530 We're looking at E. coli, campylobacter, Listeria. 488 00:29:24,530 --> 00:29:27,210 Sounds absolutely terrible. Yes. 489 00:29:27,210 --> 00:29:29,970 And I'm going to give you this back in the meantime, I think. OK. 490 00:29:37,210 --> 00:29:45,490 Four hours since the dissection of five tonnes of fatberg began... 491 00:29:45,490 --> 00:29:48,290 ..and the team from Thames Water is still hard at it. 492 00:29:50,410 --> 00:29:53,610 Hello, fellas. All right. All right. How's it all going over here? 493 00:29:55,450 --> 00:29:58,490 Slow, slow progress. I'll... I'll muck in. 494 00:29:58,490 --> 00:30:01,250 Give us a little, um... give us a bit to, um... 495 00:30:01,250 --> 00:30:05,690 Maybe try this tool as well, a bit of a sharper edge on the end there. 496 00:30:05,690 --> 00:30:08,530 Oh, lovely. Thank you. Might help make a bit more damage on there, so. 497 00:30:08,530 --> 00:30:12,650 There's not much give. I feel like, who's the Tutankhamun guy? 498 00:30:12,650 --> 00:30:14,050 The Howard Carter of shit! 499 00:30:16,090 --> 00:30:19,770 Cor! Actually, this one is getting the odour going, isn't it? 500 00:30:19,770 --> 00:30:21,570 Ooh! 501 00:30:21,570 --> 00:30:23,370 So you guys are all flushers, right? Yes. 502 00:30:23,370 --> 00:30:25,490 So you work for Thames Water 503 00:30:25,490 --> 00:30:29,850 and you've been breaking these up down the sewers? Yeah. 504 00:30:29,850 --> 00:30:34,450 It's a continuous battle. Hmm! Who's winning? Hard to say? Yeah. 505 00:30:34,450 --> 00:30:36,170 Oh, hang on. Syringe? 506 00:30:37,850 --> 00:30:40,810 It's not quite a Time Team discovery, is it? LAUGHTER 507 00:30:40,810 --> 00:30:43,730 Don't know, I think I might take this on Antiques Roadshow. 508 00:30:43,730 --> 00:30:45,010 Eugh! 509 00:30:45,010 --> 00:30:46,210 There you go. Eugh! 510 00:30:47,810 --> 00:30:49,770 There we go. 511 00:30:49,770 --> 00:30:52,210 Yeah. There you go. 512 00:30:53,610 --> 00:30:56,130 This is dangerous, isn't it? Yes. 513 00:30:56,130 --> 00:30:58,210 As you can imagine, I think the last thing you ever 514 00:30:58,210 --> 00:31:00,890 want to come into contact with, in the sewer, is a used needle. Yeah. 515 00:31:00,890 --> 00:31:02,570 Yeah, we'll get rid of that straightaway. 516 00:31:06,490 --> 00:31:07,530 Not very nice, really. 517 00:31:07,530 --> 00:31:13,370 I've already seen a syringe, but finding one for yourself... 518 00:31:13,370 --> 00:31:16,930 ..would turn my stomach a bit. Weirdly. 519 00:31:16,930 --> 00:31:18,890 Yeah. That's horrid, isn't it? 520 00:31:26,490 --> 00:31:29,890 The fatberg is proving to be a record of our hidden behaviour. 521 00:31:34,450 --> 00:31:36,250 So what other secrets does it hold? 522 00:31:39,210 --> 00:31:43,010 Dr John Wilkinson and a team of toxicologists are using 523 00:31:43,010 --> 00:31:46,610 mass spectrometry to identify different chemicals inside it. 524 00:31:57,570 --> 00:32:00,170 So, John, what kind of stuff have you found? 525 00:32:00,170 --> 00:32:02,530 We found a good number of pharmaceuticals 526 00:32:02,530 --> 00:32:05,730 and other what we call markers of human activity. 527 00:32:07,050 --> 00:32:11,170 RICK: John's found a huge range of chemicals inside the fatberg. 528 00:32:11,170 --> 00:32:12,450 From hair tonics, 529 00:32:12,450 --> 00:32:14,610 spot cream and painkillers, 530 00:32:14,610 --> 00:32:19,130 to magic mushrooms, tobacco smoke and horse tranquillisers. 531 00:32:19,130 --> 00:32:22,050 How is this stuff ending up in the water? 532 00:32:22,050 --> 00:32:24,210 Well, let's use caffeine for example. Yeah. 533 00:32:24,210 --> 00:32:27,130 You wake up in the morning, you have your cup of coffee. 534 00:32:27,130 --> 00:32:30,210 Not all of the caffeine in that cup of coffee you drink is going 535 00:32:30,210 --> 00:32:32,130 to be broken down by your body. 536 00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:35,850 In the case of caffeine, say somewhere around 60% of that 537 00:32:35,850 --> 00:32:38,770 caffeine is broken down into metabolites. 538 00:32:38,770 --> 00:32:42,450 The remaining 40% is excreted as caffeine. 539 00:32:42,450 --> 00:32:47,530 So is that true of pretty much all of these substances I'm looking at that are things that we take, 540 00:32:47,530 --> 00:32:50,970 not all of it will get broken down and therefore will appear? Exactly. 541 00:32:50,970 --> 00:32:54,650 Anything that turns up in relatively large concentrations? 542 00:32:54,650 --> 00:32:57,570 You can see a huge spike for paracetamol. 543 00:32:57,570 --> 00:33:01,050 And also salicylic acid, which is acne cream. Exactly. 544 00:33:01,050 --> 00:33:02,930 It makes sense, a lot of people using it. 545 00:33:02,930 --> 00:33:07,050 And what about these other, these spikes here, this one, 546 00:33:07,050 --> 00:33:09,170 Hordenine and Ostarine? 547 00:33:09,170 --> 00:33:12,210 Well, yeah, these are what we would call gym supplements. 548 00:33:12,210 --> 00:33:15,370 You wouldn't really expect on that level compared to only 549 00:33:15,370 --> 00:33:17,450 half of what you'd see for paracetamol. Yeah. 550 00:33:21,770 --> 00:33:24,890 Hordenine is found in athletic dietary supplements, 551 00:33:24,890 --> 00:33:29,770 while Ostarine is a performance enhancing drug used for muscle gain. 552 00:33:30,730 --> 00:33:31,970 There is no way of knowing 553 00:33:31,970 --> 00:33:35,250 whether Ostarine is being consumed or flushed down the loo. 554 00:33:35,250 --> 00:33:39,490 What is known, though, is it is on the world anti-doping prohibited list. 555 00:33:41,770 --> 00:33:45,170 I guess, you know, people are getting very interested in getting stacked, aren't they? 556 00:33:47,370 --> 00:33:51,010 We've also found some illicit drugs. What sort of things have we got? 557 00:33:51,010 --> 00:33:56,050 People wouldn't want really want, or couldn't go out to the shop to buy, let's say. 558 00:33:56,050 --> 00:33:59,090 So we found a peak for cocaine use. Yeah. MDMA. 559 00:34:00,290 --> 00:34:03,170 The cocktail of drugs also includes Ketamine, 560 00:34:03,170 --> 00:34:05,330 morphine or heroin, and amphetamines. 561 00:34:07,210 --> 00:34:10,330 That's crazy! Anything we put in our bodies is going to end up here. 562 00:34:14,690 --> 00:34:18,410 The fatberg is revealing a lot about our recreational life - 563 00:34:18,410 --> 00:34:20,610 from eating out, to taking drugs 564 00:34:20,610 --> 00:34:23,050 and a surprising obsession with body image. 565 00:34:27,690 --> 00:34:32,290 But the fatberg is also hiding some even darker secrets. 566 00:34:32,290 --> 00:34:34,890 So these microbes that you're finding that are resistant, 567 00:34:34,890 --> 00:34:36,410 are they a problem? 568 00:34:36,410 --> 00:34:37,770 They could kill you. 569 00:34:55,370 --> 00:34:58,450 The fatberg's now almost completely broken up. 570 00:34:58,450 --> 00:35:00,810 The guys are doing a good job there. 571 00:35:00,810 --> 00:35:02,850 The finds team have been very busy. 572 00:35:02,850 --> 00:35:05,850 A lot of evidence of, er, drug use, drug paraphernalia. 573 00:35:05,850 --> 00:35:07,450 Found a couple of syringes. 574 00:35:08,770 --> 00:35:10,170 We've also look at the... 575 00:35:10,170 --> 00:35:12,930 the type of fat that they're finding in the fatberg, 576 00:35:12,930 --> 00:35:14,170 so we know that now. 577 00:35:16,090 --> 00:35:19,570 The science team over here are looking at the parasites 578 00:35:19,570 --> 00:35:21,370 and the bacteria in there. 579 00:35:21,370 --> 00:35:25,330 So slowly but surely we're building up this picture of how 580 00:35:25,330 --> 00:35:29,050 the fatbergs are forming and what about our behaviour is causing 'em. 581 00:35:32,610 --> 00:35:35,490 The autopsy has revealed the majority of the fatberg 582 00:35:35,490 --> 00:35:36,970 is made from cooking oil. 583 00:35:39,010 --> 00:35:40,810 But there's a partner in crime. 584 00:35:42,410 --> 00:35:45,130 Mountains and mountains of wet wipes 585 00:35:45,130 --> 00:35:47,050 have been extracted from the fatberg. 586 00:35:51,850 --> 00:35:54,610 Andy Drinkwater from the Water Research Council 587 00:35:54,610 --> 00:35:58,530 has been investigating sewer blockages for the last 30 years. 588 00:35:59,850 --> 00:36:04,530 So, Andy, what role do wet wipes have in the formation of fatbergs? 589 00:36:04,530 --> 00:36:08,450 Basically, the fat sticks to the side of the pipe, 590 00:36:08,450 --> 00:36:11,650 then wet wipes come down and stick on the fat. 591 00:36:11,650 --> 00:36:15,930 Other fat then comes down, sticks to the wet wipes... 592 00:36:15,930 --> 00:36:18,730 It means the fatberg is growing and growing. That's right. 593 00:36:18,730 --> 00:36:22,890 And we are using more and more wipes now, aren't we? 594 00:36:22,890 --> 00:36:24,890 The number of wipes we've used has spiralled. 595 00:36:24,890 --> 00:36:28,810 20, 25 years ago, the wipes problem in the sewer system 596 00:36:28,810 --> 00:36:31,370 was a fraction of what it is now. 597 00:36:31,370 --> 00:36:33,130 It's become a major problem. 598 00:36:34,690 --> 00:36:36,970 Wet wipes are now big business. 599 00:36:36,970 --> 00:36:40,970 In the UK we spend over half a billion pounds on them every year. 600 00:36:45,330 --> 00:36:49,530 So who's using them? For what? And will anyone admit to flushing them? 601 00:36:53,530 --> 00:36:54,730 Wet wipes. 602 00:36:54,730 --> 00:36:56,930 Do you use them? Yeah. 603 00:36:56,930 --> 00:36:59,890 I like these. OK, yeah. I like Andrex. 604 00:36:59,890 --> 00:37:01,490 What do you use them for? 605 00:37:01,490 --> 00:37:05,090 For cleaning. Sometimes I use them in the bathroom. Ah-ha. 606 00:37:05,090 --> 00:37:08,290 They do make it a lot easier when you're doing the stove. Do they? 607 00:37:08,290 --> 00:37:10,170 Do they? Yeah. Very much so. 608 00:37:10,170 --> 00:37:14,090 Face, remove make-up. Yeah. My childrens' bottoms. Of course, yeah. 609 00:37:14,090 --> 00:37:16,530 And cleaning the kitchen. Ever your own bottom? 610 00:37:16,530 --> 00:37:17,850 I have tried it. 611 00:37:17,850 --> 00:37:20,570 I find it a bit slimy around the anus. 612 00:37:22,850 --> 00:37:26,050 Which is not a phrase I was hoping I'd say today, but there you go. 613 00:37:26,050 --> 00:37:28,690 So you just get rid of them down the toilet? Obviously, yeah. 614 00:37:28,690 --> 00:37:30,850 Yeah, straight down the toilet. Yeah. Yeah. 615 00:37:30,850 --> 00:37:32,570 Yeah? It's for urine purposes. 616 00:37:32,570 --> 00:37:35,810 Yeah! I wasn't expecting to be this specific, but I love it. 617 00:37:35,810 --> 00:37:37,370 Carry on, carry on. 618 00:37:37,370 --> 00:37:39,330 But that would drain the bin. If it's for faeces, 619 00:37:39,330 --> 00:37:43,010 er, nine times out of 10 I'd like to put it in the toilet. 620 00:37:43,010 --> 00:37:45,770 I'm sorry to be specific again. I love it when you're specific. 621 00:37:45,770 --> 00:37:47,530 HE LAUGHS 622 00:37:47,530 --> 00:37:50,010 Have you heard of fatbergs? 623 00:37:50,010 --> 00:37:51,330 No. 624 00:37:51,330 --> 00:37:55,410 Fatbergs are these huge coagulations of fat blocking up the sewers. 625 00:37:55,410 --> 00:37:57,130 They are colossal. 626 00:37:57,130 --> 00:38:01,330 Flushing wet wipes down the toilet... is creating the problem. 627 00:38:01,330 --> 00:38:02,770 So you've been flushing. 628 00:38:02,770 --> 00:38:04,730 You shouldn't... I've been flushing, yeah! 629 00:38:04,730 --> 00:38:07,050 You, madam, are part of the problem, I'm afraid. 630 00:38:08,530 --> 00:38:11,650 It seems that many people are happily flushing wipes, 631 00:38:11,650 --> 00:38:13,770 unaware of the consequences. 632 00:38:13,770 --> 00:38:17,490 It's those that are designed for bottoms that are the most likely 633 00:38:17,490 --> 00:38:21,370 to go down the loo, and many of these are marked as flushable. 634 00:38:27,810 --> 00:38:29,010 We're testing to see 635 00:38:29,010 --> 00:38:33,770 if any of these so-called flushable wipes are contributing to fatbergs. 636 00:38:36,810 --> 00:38:39,450 Andy, I love the shaky, shaky machine. 637 00:38:39,450 --> 00:38:41,170 What are you doing with it? 638 00:38:41,170 --> 00:38:43,010 Right. This is a shaking table, basically. 639 00:38:43,010 --> 00:38:46,010 It's a shaky, shaky machine... That's a shaky, shaky machine. Yeah. 640 00:38:46,010 --> 00:38:49,770 And we are simulating the flows you would have in a drain 641 00:38:49,770 --> 00:38:53,330 in a sewer system and we see how these different products break up. 642 00:38:53,330 --> 00:38:55,330 If they're disintegrating, no problem. 643 00:38:55,330 --> 00:38:57,610 If they're not breaking up, problem. Correct. 644 00:38:58,850 --> 00:39:00,930 'First, good old toilet roll.' 645 00:39:00,930 --> 00:39:04,530 Oh, yeah. And that, that has been on for 30 minutes. 646 00:39:04,530 --> 00:39:07,770 That has broken up pretty well. Not a problem. 647 00:39:07,770 --> 00:39:10,770 And it certainly wouldn't end up in the fatberg. 648 00:39:10,770 --> 00:39:14,570 This one is marked as a flushable, moist toilet tissue... 649 00:39:14,570 --> 00:39:18,450 'Next, a wet wipe made by Andrex that's labelled as flushable.' 650 00:39:18,450 --> 00:39:20,770 It's broken up reasonably well. 651 00:39:20,770 --> 00:39:23,130 If that was flushed in a sewer 652 00:39:23,130 --> 00:39:26,170 and caught on a bit of rough pipe, it would soon break up. 653 00:39:26,170 --> 00:39:27,330 Yeah. OK, good. 654 00:39:27,330 --> 00:39:30,130 And clearly a big difference between that and this one, 655 00:39:30,130 --> 00:39:32,930 which is just a fully formed wet wipe. That's correct. 656 00:39:32,930 --> 00:39:35,410 This has been on for three hours 657 00:39:35,410 --> 00:39:38,970 and it's still just as it was when it went in. 658 00:39:38,970 --> 00:39:42,250 And if that went on for another two or three days, 659 00:39:42,250 --> 00:39:44,290 it wouldn't be any different. 660 00:39:44,290 --> 00:39:46,410 It's a polypropylene wipe... 661 00:39:46,410 --> 00:39:49,410 You could tow a car with some of those, you really could. 662 00:39:51,450 --> 00:39:55,010 'The plastic polypropylene in this wipe gives it extra strength. 663 00:39:55,010 --> 00:39:57,770 'It also means it doesn't break down in the sewer, 664 00:39:57,770 --> 00:40:00,450 'so it's more likely to join a growing fatberg.' 665 00:40:02,090 --> 00:40:05,210 That is marked in a great big label on the front - "flushable". 666 00:40:06,570 --> 00:40:10,410 And it clearly isn't, so that is a real offender. And who makes this? 667 00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:13,770 It's marketed under the name of Peppa Pig. I hate that pig. 668 00:40:13,770 --> 00:40:16,410 How are the manufacturer getting away with that? 669 00:40:16,410 --> 00:40:17,690 That's a good question. 670 00:40:17,690 --> 00:40:20,450 Are they getting away with it actually by saying 671 00:40:20,450 --> 00:40:22,930 that "flushable" just means it will get down the toilet? 672 00:40:22,930 --> 00:40:24,930 The dictionary term of flushable, 673 00:40:24,930 --> 00:40:27,850 it's nothing to do with what blocks sewers. 674 00:40:27,850 --> 00:40:29,850 They could say it gets round the U-bend. 675 00:40:29,850 --> 00:40:32,370 So what you really want is you want a marker that says 676 00:40:32,370 --> 00:40:35,010 whether it's sewer friendly or not. That's right, yes. 677 00:40:38,130 --> 00:40:42,250 New guidelines recommend that any wipes marked flushable 678 00:40:42,250 --> 00:40:46,290 need to pass a series of tests to prove they break down in the sewer. 679 00:40:49,530 --> 00:40:51,970 Any that don't must have a big "do not flush" logo 680 00:40:51,970 --> 00:40:54,290 on the front of the pack. 681 00:40:56,210 --> 00:41:00,010 But there's currently no regulation to force companies to comply. 682 00:41:04,930 --> 00:41:07,730 Before we say farewell to our slice of fatberg, 683 00:41:07,730 --> 00:41:09,930 there's one more result to come in. 684 00:41:13,970 --> 00:41:17,050 CARLA: We've been testing the fatberg for dangerous bacteria. 685 00:41:17,050 --> 00:41:19,290 The kind that can make you seriously ill. 686 00:41:21,410 --> 00:41:23,130 How's the bacteria team getting on? 687 00:41:23,130 --> 00:41:25,890 Oh, it's very interesting, actually. I'll be the judge of that. 688 00:41:25,890 --> 00:41:27,010 CARLA LAUGHS Carry on. 689 00:41:27,010 --> 00:41:31,050 So what we've found is some listeria... Ah-ha. ..campylobacter. 690 00:41:32,050 --> 00:41:33,850 We've also found lots of E. coli. 691 00:41:33,850 --> 00:41:37,770 These are all bacteria that give us vomiting and diarrhoea. 692 00:41:39,090 --> 00:41:43,450 We're also looking for bacteria that are antibiotic resistant. Ah-ha. 693 00:41:44,810 --> 00:41:48,290 'Justin's coated one of the agar dishes with antibiotics 694 00:41:48,290 --> 00:41:50,330 'and spread the fatberg on top. 695 00:41:51,970 --> 00:41:54,570 'Any bacteria living inside should've been killed off.' 696 00:41:56,090 --> 00:41:58,290 What you find is I've got bacteria growing there. 697 00:41:59,570 --> 00:42:02,850 The antibiotic is having no effect? Yes. 698 00:42:02,850 --> 00:42:06,450 So these microbes that you're finding that are resistant, 699 00:42:06,450 --> 00:42:08,530 are they a problem for the public? 700 00:42:08,530 --> 00:42:10,850 There's a whole variety of different things it can cause. 701 00:42:10,850 --> 00:42:12,690 And they could kill you. 702 00:42:14,850 --> 00:42:17,770 People could potentially, erm, die on the infections. Mm-hm. 703 00:42:17,770 --> 00:42:19,690 Because the antibiotics won't work. 704 00:42:22,050 --> 00:42:24,490 The fatberg is full of superbugs. 705 00:42:24,490 --> 00:42:27,130 They're one of the greatest threats to global health, 706 00:42:27,130 --> 00:42:29,290 according to the World Health Organization. 707 00:42:30,610 --> 00:42:32,130 And that's not all we've found. 708 00:42:33,530 --> 00:42:36,770 They could be potentially new strains of resistant bacteria 709 00:42:36,770 --> 00:42:39,250 that we don't even know about yet. They could. 710 00:42:39,250 --> 00:42:42,050 And could they get out of the sewers? 711 00:42:42,050 --> 00:42:44,210 I guess that's the real worry, isn't it? 712 00:42:44,210 --> 00:42:46,490 That would be something that would concern the public. 713 00:42:46,490 --> 00:42:48,130 Is that a danger? 714 00:42:48,130 --> 00:42:49,490 Potentially, yes. 715 00:42:50,770 --> 00:42:52,730 'That's why keeping sewage in the sewers 716 00:42:52,730 --> 00:42:55,090 'is one of the reasons it's so important 717 00:42:55,090 --> 00:42:56,850 'to fight fatberg blockages.' 718 00:43:02,610 --> 00:43:04,530 This gruesome lump of fatberg 719 00:43:04,530 --> 00:43:07,490 has opened a window into the way we live our lives. 720 00:43:09,690 --> 00:43:11,970 We now know what it is about our eating 721 00:43:11,970 --> 00:43:14,890 and cleaning habits that creates these silent beasts... 722 00:43:17,130 --> 00:43:20,250 and how they morph into the rock hard matter that threatens 723 00:43:20,250 --> 00:43:23,330 to bring our underground waterways to a grinding halt. 724 00:43:25,810 --> 00:43:27,570 But perhaps scariest of all 725 00:43:27,570 --> 00:43:31,170 are the antibiotic resistant superbugs we've uncovered. 726 00:43:31,170 --> 00:43:34,130 These pose a real and immediate risk to the flushers 727 00:43:34,130 --> 00:43:36,610 who battle to keep the fatbergs at bay. 728 00:43:39,290 --> 00:43:40,410 HEAVY BREATHING 729 00:43:40,410 --> 00:43:42,690 I'm doing it. Whoa. 730 00:43:42,690 --> 00:43:45,690 It's over two months since we extracted our fatberg 731 00:43:45,690 --> 00:43:48,330 from a sewer just south of the River Thames. 732 00:43:48,330 --> 00:43:49,850 Why don't you, why don't you, 733 00:43:49,850 --> 00:43:52,970 why don't you people mark up your kit so you know what's what? 734 00:43:55,010 --> 00:43:58,130 Andy and his team of flushers are still hard at work. 735 00:43:59,530 --> 00:44:01,970 Once again, you know where the nearest hospital is. 736 00:44:01,970 --> 00:44:05,530 Right, OK, then. We all know what's what. Cool, let's do it. 737 00:44:11,890 --> 00:44:17,410 What we've done is in the last nine weeks we've... 738 00:44:17,410 --> 00:44:19,930 achieved a 300-metre hand dig. 739 00:44:21,450 --> 00:44:26,610 Five tonnes a day, so it equates to about 225 tonne of solid fat. 740 00:44:26,610 --> 00:44:28,290 Yeah, do you want to crack on, mate? 741 00:44:29,930 --> 00:44:32,410 It's monumental. It's... I've never seen anything like this. 742 00:44:36,170 --> 00:44:41,370 This fatberg in London's South Bank is the biggest ever found in the UK. 743 00:44:41,370 --> 00:44:42,770 You all right down there, boys? 744 00:44:42,770 --> 00:44:43,890 Yeah. 745 00:44:46,610 --> 00:44:49,730 And our autopsy has shown just how hazardous it is. 746 00:44:52,770 --> 00:44:54,970 We try and take every precaution we can 747 00:44:54,970 --> 00:44:58,170 to protect each other from the nature of what we're doing. 748 00:44:58,170 --> 00:45:03,090 We're subjected to bacteria, disease, needlestick injuries. 749 00:45:03,090 --> 00:45:05,850 It's dangerous. The job you didn't leave school for. 750 00:45:08,450 --> 00:45:10,530 As custodians of the sewer network, 751 00:45:10,530 --> 00:45:13,090 we do our best to keep it as clean as we can. 752 00:45:13,090 --> 00:45:17,370 But we can't because people need, they need... 753 00:45:17,370 --> 00:45:18,810 re-educating. 754 00:45:18,810 --> 00:45:21,770 Think before you flush things down the toilet. 755 00:45:21,770 --> 00:45:24,930 The only things that should be travelling through this network 756 00:45:24,930 --> 00:45:28,090 are pee, poo, toilet paper. 757 00:45:28,090 --> 00:45:29,370 That's it. 758 00:45:30,530 --> 00:45:34,290 The bill utility companies are paying and passing on to us 759 00:45:34,290 --> 00:45:40,130 for clearing fatbergs in Britain is now £80 million per year and rising. 760 00:45:43,170 --> 00:45:46,490 Our autopsy has show that they're a product of modern living, 761 00:45:46,490 --> 00:45:47,810 but they are preventable 762 00:45:47,810 --> 00:45:50,970 and it wouldn't take a huge change in our habits to stop them. 763 00:45:57,690 --> 00:45:59,730 We wrote to the manufacturer of Peppa Pig 764 00:45:59,730 --> 00:46:02,810 hand and body wipes, Jellyworks Healthcare Ltd, 765 00:46:02,810 --> 00:46:06,330 about the role is wet wipes play in the formation of fatbergs. 766 00:46:06,330 --> 00:46:07,850 They say... 767 00:46:17,530 --> 00:46:20,290 They're now in the process of changing the packaging design, 768 00:46:20,290 --> 00:46:22,210 removing the "flushable" label 769 00:46:22,210 --> 00:46:25,690 and adding a warning not to flush down the toilet on the reverse. 770 00:46:29,290 --> 00:46:32,010 Subtitles by Red Bee Media