NI Water reveals top towns in the Easter Bunny bad book

NI Water is hopping ahead of the Easter holidays to flush out the worst offending towns for sewer blockages across Northern Ireland. 

The company has identified the top three blockage ‘hotspots’ across all six counties and say that overall, these areas experienced 5,004 blockages which is almost half of all 11,019 blockages in 2024.

The most common items blocking all pipes in 2024 include wipes and sanitary items as well as fats, oils and grease.

NI Water’s Head of Environmental Regulation Angela Halpenny said:

“NI Water fights a daily battle with blocked sewers. This often increases in frequency over holiday periods when people are spending more time at home or may be cooking up traditional roasts and enjoying home baking.

“As Easter approaches, we are ‘flushing’ out the worst offenders in a bid to reduce blockages.  If your town is on the list, check are your flushing habits adding to the problem.”

Top three areas for blockages by county in 2024:

Angela continued: “We have all seen the disgusting effects of an overflowing manhole in the street or worse, an overflowing toilet in a home. We hope that our customers get behind us and start adopting better ‘bin it’ habits.

“It is well publicised that out of sewer flooding can cause pollution in our watercourses and seriously damage the environment. It is very frustrating that many of these incidents could be prevented if we all worked together to stop using our sewers as a bin.

“No amount of investment in our sewer system will stop blocked pipes if people continue to flush wipes (including flushable), sanitary items and fats, oils and grease down the toilet or sink. Legally it is an offence for property owners to inappropriately flush such items.”

NI Water pie chart showing total number of blockages by county area:

Check out the bathroom checklist of ‘never flush’ items below:

- all wipes (baby, personal cleansing, toilet and household cleaning) - even if the pack says ‘flushable’

- sanitary items (sanitary towels, tampons, liners, applicators and backing strips)

- cotton wool, disposable nappies and nappy liners

- condoms, incontinence pads, colostomy bags, used bandages and contact lenses

Further information on NI Water’s campaign is available online at www.niwater.com/bag-it-and-bin-it/