Rash behaviour sees nappies flushed down Yorkshire's sewers
Evidence from a rather unlikely source - the region's sewers - would seem to support the growing theory that the county is in the middle of a recessionary baby-boom.
Over the last 12 months, we removed dozens of blockages from our sewers which occurred as a result of baby-related items such as nappies, baby wipes and even baby clothing becoming lodged inside.
The problem has become so great that last year out of the 20,000 blockages we removed from our sewers, 30% of these were directly attributable to build-ups of nappies, baby wipes and fats, oils and grease.
Sheffield is a hot spot
Latest figures show that Sheffield is the region's hot-spot in terms of blockages caused by people incorrectly disposing of nappies and wipes down the toilet, with over 72 reported incidents of internal and external sewer flooding recorded so far this year. Last year, there were just 80 such incidents recorded over the whole year.
Huddersfield and Rotherham also feature prominently as two areas particularly affected by sewer flooding as a result of blockages from nappies and wipes, with 33 and 29 incidents recorded respectively since the start of the year.
Not every city or town in the region follows this negative trend however, with relatively few incidents of sewer flooding occurring as a result of nappy and baby wipe blockages in Harrogate (0), Scarborough (1) and Hull (5) so far in 2010.
Interestingly, different areas seem to suffer from different types of sewer abuse. In 2009, the city of Leeds was accountable for nearly a quarter of all blockages in Yorkshire caused by fat, oils and grease building up in the city's sewers. And evidence seems to suggest this trend looks set to continue as we've already attended seven fat related blockages in the city so far this year.
This message comes as we prepare to launch the latest stage of our campaign aimed at highlighting the problems that can occur as a result of people abusing the region's sewers and letting them know how they can play their part in preventing sewer flooding.
As part of the campaign, we've already released two videos around an animated character called 'Numptee' who persists in putting things down the sewer which don't belong there. The films follow his actions and show the potential consequences as his home is flooded with sewage.
Watch our videos and discover lots of useful advice around playing your part to keep Yorkshire's sewers rubbish free.
Watch Numptee in action
