Master Plumbers Australia has today released its 2019 list of ‘drain pain’ objects that are choking up water pipes, backing up sewerage systems, and ‘bogging down’ weary plumbers all over Australia and New Zealand, to coincide with World Plumbing Day.
MPA Chair, Robert Pearshouse said the 65,000 plumbers in Australia and New Zealand are the unsung heroes of the urban world, who bravely go where no parent wants to go after their three-year-old has managed to flush an entire teddy bear down the loo – and Dad’s toothbrush.
“Plumbers work all year round to ensure proper water sanitation to ensure human and environmental health, and today on World Plumbing Day we say thank you to plumbers.
Plumbers also have to deal with some of those less-than-rosy jobs that could easily be avoided, but have a tendency to cause major damage,” he said.
Australia and New Zealand’s superhero plumbers have retrieved all manner of weird and wacky obstacles from drains including false teeth, glasses, toilet dolls, adult toys, mobile phones, syringes and toys including matchbox cars and Barbie dolls – all of which can lead to a house full of sewerage-infused carpet or an internal flood to rival a natural disaster.
“Probably the most common products plumbers have to deal with are wet wipes, including the ones marketed as ‘flushable’, which cause of as many as 75 per cent of drain blockages in developed countries, not to mention the millions of dollars in repair bills to cities each year.
“Tonnes and tonnes of wet wipes are pulled from Australia and New Zealand’s sewerage network each year alone,” he said.
“Food fats and oils coagulate and join with other nasties – particularly wet wipes, feminine hygiene products and cotton tips, to turn into giant, toxic blockages.
So in honour of all the hard-working plumbers who venture into the unknown to keep Australia and New Zealand safe from nasty disease-causing pathogens and toxic parasites, MPA says, “Bin it!”.
