By Canadian Press

Baltimore workers remove “fatberg” of grease from sewer pipe

Oct 18, 2017 | 4:59 AM

BALTIMORE — A “fatberg” that may have taken beyond half a century to grow below Baltimore has been removed.

News outlets report the city’s Public Works department used a camera, pressure washer and truck-mounted industrial vacuum to clear the mass of curdled grease, wet wipes and other waste. Workers resorted to the strategy Monday after they’d begun scraping pieces off last month.

The notorious glob was found clogging up to 85 per cent of a 24-inch (61-centimetre) pipe near Penn Station. It’s blamed for causing more than 1 million gallons (3 million litres) of sewage to overflow into the Jones Fall stream. It’s the culmination of objects caked along a pipe’s walls that shouldn’t go down drains.

Pat Boyle with Public Works says, “We can’t treat our toilets like our trash cans.”

Baltimore workers remove “fatberg” of grease from sewer pipe

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