Three hundred tonnes of wet wipes have blocked the toilet drainsat a holiday resort popular with Brits. The cost of fixing the problem in Benidorm, Spain – includingrepairing pumping and treatment plants– has cost £332,562.
The sun-drenched resort is home to 3,300 British expats and 832,000 holidaymakers from the UK head there every year. Wet wipes accounted for 90% of all solids intercepted in the wastewater and caused a breakdown at the Severo Ochoa pumping station.
Workers spent several days unblocking pipes full of the unflushable wipes. Jose Ramon Gonzalez, councillor for water cycle, said: “Throwing wet wipes down toilets causes significant problems and breakdowns in the sewerage network. This comes with a high environmental and economic cost.”
To help cope with the influx, Benidorm City Council has joined forces with the water company Hidraqua to encourage residents to change their habits. The campaign is called ‘Stop Wipes from Being News’. The authorities will promote the message via display screens and billboards in the tourist resort.
Ciriaco Clemente, Hidraqua’s regional manager, said: “Treatment plants do their job in catching hygienic wipes during dry weather, albeit at a high cost. Unfortunately, during heavy rain, our protection system might not cope, with the wipes ending up being pumped into the sea and onto the coast.”
He added: “The best way to solve the problem is citizen awareness and collaboration in something that affects us all, environmentally and economically.”