Yorkshire’s most disgusting art exhibition comes to Sheffield

Yorkshire Water is set to reveal the truly disgusting items that have caused blockages in the region’s sewers, in a pop-up exhibition at Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield. 

On Friday 1 November, visitors will be granted exclusive access to ‘The Cabinet of Curiosities’ - a gallery of truly stomach-turning scenes featuring the more unusual items removed from pipes by Yorkshire Water’s blockages team. 

Along with the classic offenders – wipes, sanitary items, grease and fat, the exhibit will display more obscure and revolting discoveries including cuddly toys, boots and frying pans, in an attempt to demystify what causes blockages and how everyone can play their part in preventing them. 

Visitors can expect to: 

• Visit Yorkshire’s dirtiest exhibition, showcasing the un-flushable fats and foreign objects found in our sewage system in high end art form 
• See real life blockage items found in Yorkshire’s sewers on display 
• Get a close-up view of a giant fatberg 

Ben Roche, director of wastewater at Yorkshire Water commented: “In our cabinet of curiosities customers will discover a small part of the world our wastewater team deals with every day. From fats, oils and greases, to wipes and the even more bizarre – you may be surprised to discover what ends up in our pipes. 

“Avoiding blockages and knowing what you can and can’t flush is so important, as blockages are costly to remove and can cause flooding and pollutions which harm to the environment." 

The exhibition will be located on Lower High Street (near Greggs) between 10am and 9pm at Meadowhall Centre, Sheffield, S9 1EP on Friday 1 November. 

Investing in South Yorkshire 

The exhibition is coming to South Yorkshire as part of Yorkshire Water’s £180 million storm overflow investment in the region before April 2025.  

• Barnsley 
  A £9.3m investment is underway to reduce the number and duration of discharges from four storm overflows in Hoyland, Jump, Elsecar and Cudworth. Yorkshire Water is also investing £2m in additional storage in the sewer network, near Barugh Green, and a further £2.5m in a storm overflow in Mapplewell, to reduce the number of discharges into the river Dearne. 
• Sheffield 
  Work has started on a £250k investment programme in Gleadless to reduce storm overflow discharges into Shire Brook. 
• Doncaster 
  Yorkshire Water is investing £6.2m in four storm overflows in and around Doncaster (DN5, DN6) to reduce the number of storm water discharges into Mill Dike, Swan Sike Dike and tributaries of the Old River Dearne. 
• Chesterfield 
  More than £5m is being invested to improve storm overflows in and around Chesterfield to reduce discharges into Calow Brook, the river Hipper and the river Rother.