Customers of the City of Mountain Home’s sewer system are being asked to not flush sanitizing wipes down the toilet. Such items, even if they are advertised as being biodegradable, may block up a sewer line, said Alma Clark, the director of the city’s Water and Sewer departments.
A flyer listing what items should not be flushed or poured down the drain was included in the April water bills recently mailed out to customers. The other side of that flyer contains information about backwater valves, which can help prevent wastewater from entering a customer’s building during a sewer system backup.
The city started noticing an increase in the numbers of wipes flushed into the sewer system about a year ago, Clark said.
“I don’t know if they’re picking up groceries and they’re wiping stuff down before it hits their fridge and cabinets,” Clark said. “I know I do that at home. A lot of people are doing that, and the wipes don’t end up in the trash can, they end up down the toilet.”
Such wipes, even if advertised as being biodegradable, don’t break down in a sewer line, she said. The wipes are prone to catch on any sort of root intrusion found in a sewer line, and then other debris gets caught on the wipe, eventually causing a backup.
“Customers need to know that if they throw something down the toilet, it might not even make it into the sewer main,” Clark said. “It might block their sewer line and cost them money to get it pushed down the line. It’s got to go down their sewer service lines before it hits our mains.”
The city can use a root saw to dislodge items blocking a sewer line and then remove the obstruction at a manhole if the stoppage is in a portion of the sewer line maintained by the city. A blockage on the customer’s end of the sewer line would require the services of a plumber, Clark said.
“We’re talking about something that can take a lot of time and money,” she said.
Customers should also avoid dumping items like medications, herbicides and grease down the drain.
The wastewater plant can’t break down most prescription medications, which pass through the treatment process. The city’s wastewater plant uses an all-biological treatment process, Clark said, and adding toxic chemicals like herbicides and pesticides kills the micro organisms used to treat wastewater. Items like grease, fats or oils can congeal in a sewer line and create backups.
If you have grease, find yourself an old coffee can or other metal can and put the grease in there, then put a lid on it and drop that into the trash,” Clark said. “Don’t put it down the drain.”
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