SEWERS

City reminds us what should, and should not, be flushed

From baby wipes and latex gloves to rags, cut up T-shirts and kitchen gloves, the City of Regina says residents are making the wrong choices when it comes to what they are flushing down the toilet.

“I think people are making a choice to put things in the toilet because of how they were used. And that’s not how they need to be thinking,” said Pat Wilson, the city’s director of water, waste and environmental services. “The only things that should go in the toilet are things that will break down in water and that is toilet paper and human waste.”

By flushing anything other than that, she said residents might see blockages in their own homes, but that it’s also creating blockages out in the street.

While the city sees a regular number of blockages, Wilson said there has been a slight increase since the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects arrived in Regina. On Monday, a worker tended to an emergency blockage of a water main that he couldn’t get through using his usual tools.

“Right now we are able to keep up,” said Wilson. “Fact of the matter is, if we were to start to see a significant increase then it might just be that it’s a longer period before we can get to each blockage to get it cleared.”

She said the unwelcome items are also showing up in city’s lift stations, creating a dangerous situation. She is asking everyone to do their part by using the system the way it’s meant to be used to prevent a spike in emergency blockages.

The City of Saskatoon hasn’t had the same issue yet, but is doing preventive messaging as others have reported problems. The city also launched its “irritable sewer syndrome” campaign last year.

In the same boat as Saskatoon, the City of Moose Jaw sent out a news release Monday reminding residents of the dos and don’ts of the sewer system.

“Even if the package says ‘flushable wipes,’ those wipes do not sufficiently break down in wastewater and could get stuck to your home’s plumbing system and/or clog pipes that lead to the City of Moose Jaw’s Wastewater Treatment Plant,” explained Darrin Stephanson, manager of utilities for the city in the release.

Wilson said the garbage is a perfectly OK place to dispose of items like latex gloves and baby wipes, regardless of what they’ve been used for.

“We know that there have been some folks who weren’t able to get toilet paper and so they are having to make alternate choices,” she said. “All of that material is perfectly appropriate to put in the garbage, just make sure it’s in a sealed bag.”