Don’t feed the fatberg!
That is the message from Macomb County, which held a press conference on Thursday to raise awareness.
It just spent $100,000 removing a massive fatberg or mass of fat, sewage, and debris from the sewers.
It was found in a 100-foot long section of a drain leading to the Clintondale Pump Station in Clinton Township.
“It is about 100 feet long approximately, eleven feet wide and we are thinking it was about six feet thick,” said Candice Miller, Macomb County Public Works Commissioner.
Macomb County Public Works had to call in a Warren company that specializes in removing fat bergs around the country.
“This is what we do. This is something that gets us going in the morning,” said Joe Schotthoefer, the Co-Owner of Doetsch Environmental in Warren.
He says while this is what his company does, this was no ordinary job.
“It is a record breaking fatberg. The fatberg, when we’re all done with it, weight-wise we’re going to be at about 19 tons," said Schotthoefer.
To remove it, crews had to go into the sewers, build a platform above it for safety, then cut it into pieces small enough to be suctioned out of the sewer.
Macomb County leaders are asking the public not to dump grease, fat, or non-biodegradable items such as wipes and sanitary products down the drain. They formed into the fatberg.
