Fake news: Flushable wipes DO NOT plug sewer systems

BREWSTER – Last week, public works staffers found an interesting phenomenon in the bowels of the city’s sewer system, and Public Works Director Lee Webster was so impressed with the discovery that he told members of the city council at their regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12.

“Long story short, a whole bunch of wipes plugged up a section of the collection system on Indian and Fourth, which is our force main,” said Webster, “and we had probably somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 gallons of sewage backed up and holding in the collection system.”

Smaller blockages were also found in a residential section of Douglas Avenue and at Plaza Way.

Webster said his crew is investigating the possible sources of the wipes and plan to perform some community outreach to educate users on other disposal options.

“The whole wipe thing; just because it says ‘flushable’ does not mean it’s flushable,” said Webster. “You can flush a freakin’ pillow case, but it doesn’t mean it’s flushable.”

“That was kind of a big deal,” said Webster of the size of the obstacle. “You lift a manhole cover and you know it’s 14 feet to the bottom and it’s right there.”

Thanks to a newer vacuum truck equipped high-pressure water nozzle called a jet rodder, city crews were able to break through the large obstruction after repeated attempts.

“I don’t think the old rodder we had could have done it,” Webster said.

Globs of flushable wipes have been making news for years in cities around the country and in other counties.

In London, England, five years ago, workers found a 15-ton bus-sized mass of wipes and cooking grease they dubbed a “fatberg” that took days to remove.

Brewster has joined the ranks of much larger metropolitan hubs like Washington, D.C., New York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Sydney, Australia, that have been waging their own battles of the bulges. The unmistakable message for all private and commercial users is that the so-called biodegradable, flushable wipes need to be disposed by some other means than the toilet.

Webster cautions residential users to avoid flushing wipes down their toilets since the four-inch sewer pipes serving their homes are more prone to blockage than the larger 10-to-12-inch mains that serve commercial users.