BALTIMORE — Wednesday is World Water Day.
One main focus of the day is to bring awareness on sewer and water system backups, and how to prevent them.
In order to do that you first need to know what 'fatbergs' are.
Fatbergs are a combination of fats, grease, oils, wipes, and other hygiene products that get clumped together when either flushed in the toilet or dumped down drains.
When that happens, pipes can clog or even burst causing water supply disruptions.
In some cases, fatbergs lead to home flooding or sewage overflows creating potential health risks.
The folks at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Fluid Movement, a team of synchronized swimmers in Baltimore, made a video explaining how to avoid such situations.
Swimmers in the video highlight how so called 'flushable' wipes contribute to the problem.
These wipes in fact often do not completely breakdown, resulting in pipe blockages.
This can be an issue especially for homes and cities with aging or deteriorating infrastructure.
For example Baltimore's Department of Public Works blamed fatbergs for 1 million gallons of sewage that flowed into the Jones Falls back in 2017.
Baltimore also frequently deals with water main breaks that normally require pipe repairs.
