Sewage floods are becoming increasingly common in city centres. It is not because the antiquated systems cannot cope with modern living. It is because we are all going out to eat more.
Yes, restaurants are to blame. They are pouring more and more fat down into the sewers. As soon as it hits the cold water, the fat cools and turns solid. Over time, this thick sludge backs up until one day... boom... out it all comes - often at high pressure.

Black water floods - as they are called - are particularly hazardous to your health because they often contain more than 120 different viruses. Take your pick which really nasty diseases you can pick up from them.

Even ordinary floods with water straight out of the mains can kick-start a really cracking growth of bacteria where you would least expect it resulting in an outbreak of mould and bacteria.




The Sludge Gulper eats
sewage for breakfast

When we are called in, first of all we inspect the flood. The visual damage is obvious. It is covering the floor and crawling up the walls. It often reeks. What we are looking for is the hidden damage which can take days to appear.


Wearing biological suits, we then start sucking out the liquid, cleaning up the dirt and drying the area out. Only when the area looks clean can we begin killing the invisible spores and bacteria with high-power disinfectants. While we are working, we constantly swab for biological life. You do not want to know what causes it but you do want to know when it is gone.