The Erie County Sewer Districts have experienced many instances of blockages related to residents flushing paper towels, napkins, wipes, and similar items down the toilet.
Why?
Toilet paper is designed to breakdown after its use. Think about a time you spilled water on the floor – if you try to clean up the water with toilet paper, it starts to fall apart. Paper towels, wipes and other items generally do not. This video from MetroVancouver provides a good example of this phenomenon:
But aren’t some of these items labeled “flushable”?
Why is it a problem if these items are non-dispersible?
Things that do not break down may get hung up in the sewer system on items such as roots. Often times non-dispersibles mix with other components in the sewage and start to accumulate. As these items get hung up or start to get larger, pipes may get clogged. The non-dispersibles may also block mechanical equipment like pumps . Below is a picture from one Erie County pumping station where all of the pumps stopped functioning due to “stringy” masses of wipes and other non-dispersibles accumulating in the pump volutes.
Why are plugged sewers and blocked pumps a problem?
Is this only happening in Erie County?
What can I do?
Keep it simple – only flush toilet paper. Everything else goes in the garbage because “Toilets are not trashcans!”