Water Corporation, Western Australia’s water utility, reported responding to 1,329 preventable wastewater blockages in the past year, according to a PerthNow report published on 4 July 2025. Water Minister Don Punch attributed 850 of them to fats, oils and grease poured down kitchen sinks, and 379 to non-flushable items such as wet wipes, paper towels, cotton buds and sanitary products. The two household habits behind most of the reported blockages are simple to change, and the utility’s advice comes down to what goes into the toilet and what goes down the sink.
What the blockage figures show
The utility’s reported counts for the last three years are set out below. The most recent figure is attributed to “the past year” in the report; the article does not give exact start and end dates for that period, so it should not be read as a calendar or financial year.
| Period (as reported) | Preventable wastewater blockages | Change from previous figure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 918 | Not stated (earliest figure in the report) |
| 2022 | 1,152 | About 25 per cent higher than 2021 |
| Past year (reported 4 July 2025) | 1,329 | About 15 per cent higher than 2022 |
PerthNow describes the latest figure as a 44 per cent increase. The numbers themselves give a slightly different picture depending on the baseline: 1,329 is about 45 per cent above 2021’s 918, and about 15 per cent above 2022’s 1,152. The minister called the figure “a significant increase on recent years”, which the two-year trend supports.
Where the blockages come from
The minister’s breakdown accounts for 1,229 of the 1,329 blockages, leaving 100 that the coverage does not assign to a cause. Of the 1,229 that are assigned, the split is roughly two to one:
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| Reported cause | Blockages | Share of 1,329 | Examples given |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fats, oils and grease poured down kitchen sinks | 850 | About 64% | Cooking fat and oil washed down the sink |
| Non-flushable items | 379 | About 29% | Wet wipes, paper towels, cotton buds, sanitary products |
| Not assigned in the reported breakdown | 100 | About 8% | Not stated |
Both categories are household disposal habits, not failures of the pipes themselves. The utility’s spokeswoman put it plainly: “No system is designed to cope with the misuse of wastewater pipes.”
How the two habits turn into fatbergs
A fatberg is a large mass that builds up inside a sewer. According to the minister, the mechanism works as follows. The article presents this as the minister’s account of the cause, not as a finding that every blockage has the same origin.
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Fats, oils and grease
Cooking fat that goes down the sink cools and solidifies as it moves through the pipe. It coats the inside of the pipe and catches other material, so the deposit thickens over time. The minister’s point is that the fat itself is the binding agent in these masses.
Non-flushable items
The minister said these materials “don’t break down, instead they combine with the fats and oils to create fatbergs.” That is the reason wipes and similar products cause trouble even when they are sold as flushable: they do not disperse in the wastewater system once they reach it.
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What to flush and what to keep out of the toilet
Water Corporation’s guidance comes down to three things that can go into the toilet: pee, poo and toilet paper. Everything else goes in the bin. The steps below cover the kitchen habit that accounts for most of the reported blockages.
- Let cooking fats and oils cool in the pan or bowl until they are no longer hot.
- Scrape them into a jar or a bin with a lid. A lidded container keeps the fat from spilling and makes the waste easier to dispose of with general rubbish.
- Do not pour fats or oils down the sink, including small amounts, because the minister’s account is that these build into fatbergs when they combine with other material.
- Put wet wipes, paper towels, cotton buds and sanitary products in a bin, not the toilet or the sink.
The same rule applies to the bathroom. Products labelled “flushable” are not automatically safe for the sewer, as the next section explains.
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Why “flushable” labels do not settle the question
Product labels are the main reason people flush wipes. In 2020 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took a case against Kleenex Cottonelle over the flushability claims for its wipes. PerthNow reports that the Federal Court rejected the case, finding that the evidence did not verify the wipes had caused the blockages cited, and that other possible causes could not be excluded.
That outcome is narrower than it may sound. It concerned whether the ACCC could prove causation in that particular case. It does not establish that wipes are harmless, and it does not show that all products labelled flushable are safe for sewer systems. Water Corporation spokesperson Gavin Hill-Smith, quoted by The West, put the utility’s position directly: “Not all products labelled ‘flushable’ can be flushed down the loo.” This article describes the court outcome as press reporting describes it; anyone who needs the legal reasoning should read the court’s published judgment.
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The network behind the blockages
PerthNow reports that Water Corporation operates more than 17,700 kilometres of wastewater mains in Western Australia. In 2023–24 the utility reported $88 million in capital improvements: $24 million for asset renewals and $64 million for capacity upgrades. These figures describe investment in the network. The report does not say what share of system failures comes from user disposal and what share from ageing or undersized assets, so the spending should not be read as a measure of how much blockages would fall if households changed their habits.
The scale of the problem is visible in one of the largest removals. The West Australian reported that a 30-tonne fatberg was removed from the Woodman Point wastewater treatment plant in 2025, which is the best-known example in the coverage of the material described above.
Quick Recap
Limits of the reported figures
- The 1,329 figure and its cause breakdown come from press reporting of Water Corporation and ministerial statements, published on 4 July 2025. This article does not show the underlying utility dataset or the parliamentary record.
- The exact dates of the “past year” period are not stated in the coverage, so the figure cannot be placed in a calendar or financial year.
- The reported causes account for 1,229 of 1,329 blockages. The remaining 100 are not explained.
- These are 2025 figures. Newer counts may have been published since then and should be checked against the utility’s own reporting.
A practical setup for the kitchen and bathroom
- A lidded container for cooled cooking fat. A plain jar or a bin with a lid works. Water Corporation’s advice names a jar or bin; it does not recommend a specific product.
- A bin next to the toilet for wipes, cotton buds, paper towels and sanitary products.
- A check before flushing: if the item is not pee, poo or toilet paper, it goes in the bin, regardless of the label.
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