The smelly, congealed mass is a result of people flushing wet wipes and other items that don’t belong in the sewer.
Unitywater Executive Manager Rhett Duncan said “it was an overnight job” to clear the messy problem from a sewage pump station in Brendale.
“It took most of the night by the time our crews lifted the pump and dug the rags and fatberg off by hand and got it operating again,” he said.
“It’s not a nice job and doesn’t smell very pleasant, but somebody has to do it and we have the right crew for the job.
“We’d love to be using the crews to do maintenance work elsewhere on our network.”
Mr Duncan said fatbergs and blockages were easily avoidable by ensuring anything other than pee, poo and paper were put in the bin.
“We ask people to only flush the Three Ps – pee, poo and toilet paper,” he said.
“The same goes for the kitchen sink – fats and oils belong in the bin as these can clog private plumbing as well as wreaking havoc on the sewerage network.
“If people are flushing things that don’t belong in the sewer, it can block private plumbing and that can certainly lead to expensive personal plumbing bills.”
Read more about what not to flush at our Wet wipes are rubbish page
