Artificial intelligence (AI) in Kent helped Southern Water find a significant blockage beneath the streets of Folkestone - which threatened to cause misery to the local community.

The water company’s electronic sewer monitors picked up a fatberg, uncovering a buildup of wastewater where it shouldn't have been.

When the Southern Water team arrived on site, they were shocked to discover the cause of the problem was a discarded dumbbell gym weight.

More than 34,000 radar sensors are constantly monitoring sewer levels – the team arrived in Folkestone and cleared out the fatberg before the sewer could flood.

Blocked sewers are the single biggest cause of pollution incidents – from manholes spilling into streams to gardens filling with sewage. The very worst kind is internal flooding where sewers back up and pour into sinks, showers and loos.

Daniel McElhinney, Proactive Operations Control Manager at Southern Water said:

“The sensors take a weight off our minds and measure the level of sewage flowing under manhole blockage hotspots. The AI machines learn normal sewer behaviours, then can tell the difference between morning and evening rushes, rain in the system and a blockage forming.

“We’re spotting hundreds of potential blockages before it’s too late. Our teams use high pressure jets to clear sewers thanks to the pinpoint accuracy of the AI machines.”

Most customers don’t realise the average suburban sewer are only the diameter of an orange or a tennis ball and that it doesn’t take much cooking fat to combine with other unflushables like wet wipes to form a fatberg.