A former police dog in the United Kingdom named Hector has started “fighting grime instead of crime,” quips the bloodhound’s owner, Steve Williams, in a story recently featured in The Telegraph.

According to the article, 17,000 blockages — caused by fats, oil, grease and wet wipes (the usual suspects) — clog Southern Water’s 25,000-mile network of sewers each year.

But there's no need to fear, Hector the sewer-sniffing dog is here!

In addition to educating the utility’s commercial customers, including restaurants, on the various issues caused by improper disposal of cooking oils and fats, Williams has trained Hector to detect sewer blockages from ground level.

Williams says Southern Water will still use CCTV, sonar surveys and other traditional methods to track down blockages but “as far as I know, we’ve never used a bloodhound, so I thought I’d give it go.”

If you thought this story was interesting, check out Dogs Detect Wastewater Spills, from the August 2014 edition of Municipal Sewer & Water.