Fat clogged pipe. Pic: Thames Water
The only remaining piece of the enormous fatberg discovered under Whitechapel’s streets is to be displayed at the Museum of London next year.
The Whitechapel fatberg, discovered in September, was one of the largest ever found in London, weighing 130 tonnes, the equivalent of 11 double-decker buses and stretching to over 250 metres – six metres longer than Tower Bridge. The blockage was a congealed mass of fat, oil, grease, wet wipes and sanitary products.
A representative for The Museum of London said: “The existence of this fatberg highlights the pressures fat and modern rubbish are putting on London’s historic infrastructures and is a comment on our increasingly disposable society.”
Most of the fatberg was converted into 10,000 litres of biodiesel by Thames Water earlier this year, but the remaining piece will go into the year long, City Now City Future exhibition at the Museum of London next year until April. The exhibition is influenced by the statistic that by 2050, over 70 per cent of the world’s population will be living in urban environments and the pressure this will place on the city’s infrastructures.
Whitechapel fatberg. Pic: Museum of London
Vyki Sparkes, Curator of Social and Working History at the Museum of London, said: “The Whitechapel fatberg will be one of the most fascinating and disgusting objects we have ever had on display. Everything about fatberg is challenging but as the Museum of London we cannot shy away from engaging with the challenges this city faces.”
Having hit the headlines in more than 115 countries, the monster fatberg has fascinated and disgusted people all over the world.
Pouring twenty bottles of drain clearer down the sink to do my bit to defeat the Fatberg of Whitechapel.
— Clee (@jmsclee) November 29, 2017
Look up the whitechapel fatberg it will change your life but not for the better
— Katie Myers (@stopitkatie) September 13, 2017
will the fatberg reemerge for the royal wedding?
— General Ape (@nickincandenza) November 30, 2017
A team of eight from Thames Water worked to clear the sewer with the final stretch having to be removed manually using shovels.
Our version of a walking tour of London: see for yourself the monster #Fatberg everyone’s talking about: pic.twitter.com/LNd81wAliO
— Thames Water (@thameswater) September 12, 2017
Stuart White, spokesman for Thames Water said: “There is definitely something repulsively human about this modern-day monster we helped create – largely through our own excess.
“At its worst, a fatberg can cause a total blockage and the misery of sewer flooding. This rock-solid chunk in the museum is a vivid reminder to us all that out of sight is not gone forever, so please help keep London flowing – don’t feed the fatberg.”
