A WATER company is urging residents to stop flushing wet wipes down the toilet, citing a 'serious risk' of sewage flooding.

Thames Water is appealing to Slough residents to desist from disposing of wet wipes and other non-biodegradable items like cotton buds and human hair, in the sewage system.

Early last week, workers pulled out two 140kg masses of wipes and other non-flushable from Thames Valley's Slough sewage works – reportedly an 'all to regular' occurrence for the workers there.

Andy Moore, site manager of the sewage works, said: "Lots of people think its ok to put these items down the toilet because they disappear when you flush, but what they don’t realise is they don’t break down like toilet paper does, and instead cling to the insides of the pipes and cause blockages.

"Those that don’t stick to the pipes end up at our sewage works and cause blockages there, and if the site stops working properly there is real risk of sewage flooding homes, and spilling out into the environment, causing significant damage.

"Even when wipes are labelled as flushable, they’re not bio-degradable and still cause blockages so our message is clear: Bin it – don’t block it."

In the last six months, Thames Water engineers have had to clear over 600 blockages throughout their network, many of them caused by thoughtlessly discarded non-degradable material.