On Tenerife, napkins paralyzed the sewage system: 30 tons of "monsters" per year.
In Tenerife, sewage networks are suffering from a huge amount of wet wipes, which lead to blockages and pump failures, and sometimes to beach pollution.
In Tenerife, a "monster of wipes" was found in the sewer! Teidagua, the water company in La Laguna, has released a video that is truly terrifying. It turns out that wipes can wreak havoc on our sewer systems.
Teidagua says that in the first half of 2025, wipes were the main cause of blockages. They are also responsible for 100% of pumping station failures! Can you imagine, the company pulls as much as 30 tons of wipes out of the sewer every year!
Here's what they wrote on social media: "We found a huuuuge #WipesMonster 👻 while cleaning the sewer in #LaLaguna! 😱👋 Remember!👉 The #Toilet 🚽 doesn't swallow everything, wipes go in the trash 🚮 pic.twitter.com/9SkLGMmOtS"
And even earlier, in February, the town of Candelaria even banned swimming at Los Guanches and El Alcalde beaches because of wipes.
It turned out that on February 21, there was a sewage leak right on Avenida de la Constitución. And all because a lot of wipes had accumulated in the pipes. Although utilities clean the sewers regularly, wipes are still a problem. Because of this incident, the city also had to replace the pumps, because they broke down due to clogging.