Anglian Water has a sewer flooding reduction as one of its outcome delivery incentives in its PR14 final determination, so faces financial penalties if it does not reduce both internal and external sewer flooding on average over three years.
Cambridge has suffered an average of 408 sewer blockages annually over the last three years, with more than 50 homes a year suffering from sewer flooding outside their property caused by blocked pipes.
The company’s Keep It Clear campaign urges residents to put fats, wipes and other non-flushable materials in the bin, rather than down the drain because these can lead to sewer blockages which can cause sewer flooding.
Staff at the Cambridge Water Recycling Centre remove around five tonnes of unflushable waste from the works’ inlet pipes every week, and it is hoped this will reduce because of the campaign.
This is the latest stage in Anglian Water’s Keep It Clear campaign, which launched in 2010 and has seen a 48 per cent drop in the number of sewer blockages in that time.
Rachel Dyson, from Anglian Water’s Keep It Clear campaign, said: “Cambridge is a historic city with often narrow streets and deep sewers, this makes the job of maintaining the network even harder and more disruptive to traffic. If we all play our part we can help keep the system clear, reduce sewage spills and keep water bills down.”