MORE than double the number of blockages have already been cleared from Swindon’s sewers than in the whole of 2010.

Now Thames Water is calling on householders to think twice about what they flush away, revealing that even some sanitary products that claim to be “flushable” are actually leading to a sticky situation underground.

By the end of August this year engineers had cleared around 750 blockages from Swindon’s sewers in 2015, which is contributing to an eye-watering total of more than 4,000 blockages in the last five years.

The blockages have been a combination of fat, oil and grease and what Thames Water call “rag” which is things like wet wipes, nappies, sanitary products and cotton buds, which don’t break down in the sewers.

A spokesman for Thames Water revealed that one of the biggest issues its Swindon engineers were coming up against in the pipework was wet wipes.

“Although many of them say “flushable” on the packaging it doesn’t mean they break down once flushed," she said.

“They might disappear from the toilet pan but once they get into the sewers they stay intact unlike toilet paper which breaks down straight away.

"All types of wipes are a problem so it’s baby wipes, surface cleaning wipes, make up remover wipes, personal hygiene wipes and any others you can think of as they’re made of a type of plastic not paper.”

If the sewage coming from homes and businesses can’t flow through the pipes properly because of a blockage, the waste water – which is a mixture of what comes out of dishwashers, washing machines, toilets, showers and sinks - will begin to back up in the pipes and will often start coming up through drains in the street.

Thames Water spends around £1m every month clearing blockages from their sewers in London, Swindon and the Thames Valley, which is reflected in customer bills.

The spokesman added: “In the last five years there have been over 400 instances of sewage flooding in Swindon with half of them being in the SN2 and SN3 postcodes so these are our main hotspots.

“We will send reminders to customers who have repeat problems explaining what they shouldn’t put down the sink and toilet and will sometimes visit the worst offenders in person and we run awareness campaigns each Christmas to remind people not to pour the dregs of the Turkey roast down the sink"

Residents are advised that rather than pouring fat down the sink they should allow it to cool and simply tip it into a jar with a lid or a container such as an old margarine tub and then put it in the normal rubbish bin.

Thames Water also revealed that a common misconception that sewer pipes were massive and simply won’t block was incorrect. Most domestic sewer pipes have the diameter of a cricket ball.

And the age-old myth that putting washing up liquid down the sink with the hot fat is also just that – a myth. The fat will still set hard when it reaches the cold underground sewer pipes.

Thames Water’s waste networks manager for Swindon, Alex Saunders, said: “Having sewage back up into your home or flood your street as a result of a blockage is just horrible but it’s something that we can all do our bit to avoid by putting things like wipes, nappies and sanitary items in the bin and not down the loo.

"The message is simple: Bin it – don’t block it.”