YORKSHIRE Water staff visited Queensway Primary School in Yeadon as part of the company’s ‘Stop it, don’t block it’ campaign Wendy Berriman, campaigns assistant, said: “The aim of these interactive sessions is to educate the children about the problems these actions can cause. We hope the children will urge their parents to think twice before flushing or pulling the plug.

“The children enjoyed learning about how to prevent sewer blockages. We gave them all a sink strainer, a fat cake making kit for the birds and an advice leaflet to take home for their parents.”

Over the next five years, the company will be investing £252 million to improve the quality of the region’s sewer network, which includes jet cleaning sewers to remove the build-up of wipe and fat related blockages.

In the last year Yorkshire Water has cleared 35,000 blockages from sewers across the region, nearly a third of which were caused by wipes, and a further 15 per cent due to fats, oils and grease being put down sinks.

The company believes that educating Yeadon’s children is a good way to change customer behaviour, not only in the short term but in the future when the children grow up.