Blockages in sewers are pretty common in cities across the globe.
But how large a congealed mass of filth has to be before it gets its own name?
A worker cradles a fatberg in her arms in a London sewer.
Photo credit: Adrian Dennis/AFP
So what is a fatberg exactly?
Londons Victorian-era brick-built sewers are especially susceptible to this problem.
Nobody cares about Fogs, says Vyki Sparkes of the Museum of London.
you might talk about Fogs until the cows come home.
But start using the term fatberg and it comes alive; people can visualise it.
Fat collects in a London sewer.
Photo credit: The Guardian
Part of the Whitechapel fatberg.
Photo credit: Thames Water/PA
But worse was still to come.
It took workers nine weeks to remove the solidified mass.
The Whitechapel fatberg became a source of international fascination.
The only silver lining in this story is that fatbergs can be converted to biofuel.
The Whitechapel fatberg produced about 10,000 liters of biofuel enough to power 350 double-decker London buses for a day.
