Best dressed: Drumadragh Wastewater station

Sporting this seasons latest trends, the station has seen savvy jumpers, sleek shirts and sophisticated trousers wash up and block vital pumps.

Catherine Watkins, Project Manager upgrading the Drumadragh Wastewater Pumping Station, explains: “Clothes, including jumpers, shirts, and trousers have been disposed of down the sewer in the area and are blocking pumps at the Drumadragh Pumping Station.

“We are currently upgrading the station at a cost of £160,000 to improve the overall performance of the pumping station.

“We are therefore calling on our customers in the area to ensure they only flush toilet roll; everything else should go in the bin.”

“Clothes are not the only thing we find blocking sewers and pumping stations, we are literally fighting a daily battle with the ‘Dirty Dozen’ at a cost of over £2.5 million to NI Water every year.

“The ‘Dirty Dozen’ are the twelve most common items the public flush and dump down our sewers.

“The ring leader is the innocent looking Baby Wipe, closely followed by Sanitary Towel.

“These ordinary household items head a gang of everyday products that cause mayhem with the sewer system when flushed down the toilet or dumped in the sewers.”

Bag and Bin all of these:

Sanitary waste - towels, tampons, applicators, panty liners, backing strips;

Disposable nappies, liners and baby wipes;

All wipes ie baby, bathroom, toilet and cleaning;

Incontinence pads;

Condoms and femidoms;

Colostomy bags;

Bandages and plasters;

Cotton buds, cotton wool;

Contact lenses;

Toothbrushes;

Place razors and razor blades in a rigid container in the bin and take syringes and needles to a needle bank.

Return medicines and contraceptives to your local pharmacy.

When the label says ‘disposable’, it does not always mean it can be flushed down the toilet.