This 20-Foot 'Fatberg' Was Clogging a Sewer

Officials in Baltimore worked to remove a 20-foot "fatberg" of congealed grease, flushable wipes and other gross stuff from a sewer pipe.

According to The Washington Post, there was a massive clog in a two-foot-wide pipe under Lanvale Street between Charles Street and Maryland Avenue. The issue was detected after a series of sewage overflows.

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A spokesman for the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, Jeffrey Raymond, dished on how the issue was handled and how expensive it was. Raymond explained that it cost approximately $60,000 to fix the clog.

"Think about a can of lard – and multiply it," he said.

The officials claim that the blockage was primarily caused by flushable wipes. Sewer systems that were built around 100 years ago aren't typically capable of handling the wipes. While many of the wipes are often labeled as disposable, some most definitely are not, as the officials in Baltimore are well aware.

The Department of Public Works released a video of the footage captured inside the sewage.

"Turns out Baltimore has its own fatberg in its sewer systems — a congealed lump of fat, along with wet wipes and other items that do not break down in sewer systems," the Department of Public Works stated. "Safeguard Baltimore's sewer system by canning the grease and trashing the wipes."

The city council in Baltimore has actually had to battle some in Congress who wish to do away with the current anti-wipe regulation.

"Since Congress has the ultimate say over what goes on in Washington, D.C., it's possible we would [support] an appropriations measure that makes D.C. think twice about banning a product that's helpful — flushable wipes," Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said this year.