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The sanitation officials whose infrastructure gets clogged up by an ever-growing deluge of “flushable wipes” isn’t trying to punish or cheat you as part of some grand conspiracy related to the “rain tax.”
On Thursday, we ran a story by staff writer Jennifer Learn-Andes in which she reported that the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority has issued a plea for customers to stop using so-called flushable wipes instead of toilet paper.
After leaving a residential or commercial property, wastewater first enters one of 64 pump stations scattered throughout the area so it can be screened and forced through pipes to the authority’s Hanover Township treatment facility.
At the pump stations, the wastewater initially hits screens with spaces small enough to trap some debris but wide enough to keep the flow moving so sewage does not back up. These screens must be manually raked out.
Colella produced a photograph of three, 5-gallon barrels holding wipes removed from the screen in a Plains Township pump station that had accrued over two days.
“That’s just one pump station and only two days,” Colella emphasized.
Many comments posted to our online version of the story illustrated the mindset which has created and exacerbated the issue. As an example:
“All the stormwater fees will take care of repair and the nice new vacuum truck will clean up the mess sounds like a stormwater sewage tax fee increase.”
“Well it gives them something to use the stormwater fee on instead of going into their pockets! Robbers.”
“Why is this an issue NOW and hasn’t been in the past or did I miss something?”
“Why does the label say it is flushable?”
Our story did address some of those issues.
Authority crews have observed an increase in wipes over the last five years as they grow in availability and popularity, Colella told Learn-Andes. He’s also heard of more property owners facing problems with their own septic systems due to wipes.
In the comment war that predictably ensued, one reader helpfully posted two news articles that shed further light on the matter.
One, a Guardian piece from 2015, noted that “… the wipes market – currently valued at $13.2 billion – has been growing at 6% to 7% percent annually for much of the past decade.”
The second, a Washington Post real estate Q&A from May, described how terrible flushable wipes are for plumbing — as in the plumbing that runs through our homes, before our sewage ever hits the public system.
“I’ve been a master plumber since age 29, and I can tell you the only thing that should go down a toilet is liquid and solid waste from your body and toilet paper,” the author of that piece wrote. “It’s also important to realize the less toilet paper you use each trip to the bathroom, the happier your plumbing system will be.”
So, why is WVSA raising the issue now?
The authority explained that it is an ongoing problem they are looking to tackle, and wipes will be among the issues highlighted in a new public education newsletter that will be included with 2020 bills for sanitary and stormwater fee customers, WVSA’s Collella said.
To those fearing that the wipes issue could drive up their bills: Yes, you should be concerned. At least half a dozen pumps had to be replaced this year due to damage largely attributed to wipes, Collella said, noting each pump ranges from $5,000 to $40,000 depending on the type.
That isn’t the fault of the stormwater fee (aka the “Rain Tax,”) nor the fault of WVSA officials and board members. Consumers, believing corporate marketing, are flushing these durable wipes down their toilets when they shouldn’t be. As one commenter pointed out, they may in a sense be flushable, but they certainly aren’t biodegradable.
If you insist on using them, treat them like diapers — bag them up and send them out on trash day.
Better still, heed the advice from that Post columnist, and stick to the essentials: traditional toilet paper and water, both of which can safely be processed by the system and don’t end up in landfills.
We know some of our readers don’t believe in climate change. We know they don’t want to be lectured by a Swedish teenager about the environment. They don’t believe the burden for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay should fall on local property owners.
But this isn’t about Greta or clean coal or rising sea levels, it’s about common sense.
If you put things into the toilet that clog up the pipes and sewage systems, we’re all going to pay for it sooner or later.
And we didn’t even get into the hazards posed by sending products filled with plastic microbeads, prescription medicines or cooking grease down the drain.
— Times Leader