An automated sewer management system detected and stopped a large obstruction from causing a pollution incident.

The blockage, made up of single-use wipes and non-degradable items, was caught near Framfield Stream in Uckfield. It posed a risk of polluting three neighbouring fishing lakes.

Southern Water credited the successful result to its technology-based sewer surveillance system, which uses roughly 34,000 sensors positioned throughout the infrastructure to monitor water movement and spot irregularities.

Daniel McElhinney, proactive operations control manager at Southern Water, said these devices keep track of sewage levels under maintenance chambers in areas susceptible to blockages, though the real advancement comes from how machine learning or artificial intelligence builds a picture of normal sewer patterns and can differentiate between high morning and evening demand, rainwater infiltrating the system, and an actual obstruction forming.

Instead of turning up afterwards to clean up and apologise to impacted customers, we are spotting hundreds of potential blockages early enough that our teams can attend with high-pressure water jets to clear the pipe.

When monitoring devices in Uckfield flagged an irregularity, Southern Water’s operations centre promptly dispatched a crew to jet the sewer.

The rapid response ensured the blockage was cleared before it could harm the environment.

Sewer blockages constitute the leading cause of pollution incidents, resulting in wastewater discharging onto land and into watercourses.

However, the worst situation involves internal backing up, where sewage systems overflow and enter bathrooms and kitchens.

Many householders are unaware that domestic sewers are only about the width of a citrus fruit or ball used in sport.

It takes very little cooking fat combined with wipes, feminine hygiene items, or cotton buds to produce a significant blockage.

Southern Water staff now attend neighbourhoods suffering repeated blockages to educate residents and encourage correct disposal practices.

The technology-supported method has produced over 4,000 responses from Southern Water teams during the past year.