Revealed: Inside the huge fatberg found under London’s South Bank

Presenter Rick Edwards and pathology technician Carla Valentine
Channel 4

A huge fatberg found in sewers under London's South Bank contained more performance enhancing drugs than the likes of cocaine and MDMA.

A special documentary by Channel 4 and Thames Water, Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers airs tonight, is set to expose London's filthiest waste habits, contained within a mass fatberg discovered close to the Thames.

Cooking oil was the worst offender making up nearly 90 per cent of the mass with condoms, sanitary towels, nappies, wet wipes and cotton buds making up the rest.

Testing also discovered lethal antibiotic resistant superbugs including listeria, campylobacter and E.coli in the mix.

The fatberg contained 4,072 nanograms per litre of Ostarine, an alternative to anabolic steroids, compared to 541 ng/l of cocaine and 291 ng/l of MDMA.

Now a growing urban crisis, the battle to remove fatbergs from Britain's sewage systems is costing an estimated £80 million a year across the UK.

Civil engineering consultant Andy Drinkwater explained the problem: “The fat sticks to the side of the pipe, the wet wipes come down and stick on the fat, other fat comes down and sticks to the wet wipes and that adds to the mass of the fatberg."

The programme follows presenter Rick Edwards and pathology technician Carla Valentine though an in-depth scientific examination of the fatberg's contents.

Alex Saunders from Thames Water advised: “Please only flush the three Ps (pee, poo and toilet paper) and don’t feed the fatberg.”

Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4

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