A bunch of hardy London sewermen have posted on YouTube a reworded version of the carol Good King Wenceslas.
They hope to stop people washing drain-blocking turkey fat down their sinks this Christmas, while also raising money for WaterAid.
Watch their performance below, or on the BBC News website here.
January Update: With more than 30,000 views already, Thames Water have confirmed their donation of £2000 to WaterAid from the film.
Christmas is always the worst time of year for sewer abuse, which is when people put anything other than human waste or loo roll down drains. And turkey fat is the biggest no-no of all.
In December around 25 per cent more fat goes down drains, forming hideous 'fatberg' blockages when it cools down and sets hard in sewers. An estimated 500 tonnes of lard - the equivalent mass of one million Christmas puddings - is expected to end up in Thames Water sewers this month.
The problem is so bad that Thames Water's sewermen, or 'flushers', who work in the sewers clearing fatbergs, have sung a seasonal plea to their 14m customers to: "Bin it - don't block it."
In a pithy departure from hymn-writer John Mason Neale's 1853 words, The Singing Sewermen have re-written the lyrics to Good King Wenceslas to include this straight-to-the-point advice: "Only what comes out of you, Should go into our pipes."
The choristers' YouTube performance took place in the famous Victorian brick sewers under their base at Wick Lane in Hackney.
Rob Smith, chief Thames Water sewerman and lead chorister, said: "Sewer abuse a big problem – one well worth making a song and dance about in our view. And it's not every day you get to see a rough-and-ready performance of a Christmas carol by a bunch of guys knee deep in poo.
"Some of our less flattering fans have said our singing is a load of poo, too. Sure, we’re not quite Take That but I’d like to think our vocals have improved a tad on last year's song."
For each hit the carol gets, Thames Water will 'spend a penny' for WaterAid, donating 1p* a time to support the charity's life-saving work to improve access to safe water and sanitation to some of the world’s poorest people.
In July this year the Singing Sewermen cleared 1,000 tonnes of fat - enough to fill nine Double Decker London buses - from the sewers under Leicester Square. But five months on and the lard is back with a vengeance – because of sewer abuse.
Rob added: "Cooking fat, sanitary items and other nasties that are wrongly put down loos and sinks end up blocking sewers, and in some cases cause sewage to back up into people's homes, which is truly horrific. Our message is simple. If it's not water, toilet tissue or poo, please: Bin it – don’t block it."
Every year 7,000 homes and gardens across London and the Thames Valley are flooded with sewage as a result of sewer abuse.
Sourced from www.wateraid.org with thanks to Thames Water
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