Don't flush those 'flushable' wipes to help prevent sewer backups

It turns out that those "flushable" wipes that are often sold alongside regular toilet paper are not really flushable.

Local municipal officials are asking people to not flush any kind of wipes down the toilet, no matter what the packaging says.

They indicate on the label that they are flushable. So people are obviously disposing of them by flushing them down the toilet, and they do not break down very well. So they can hang up and cause sewage blockages.

There were two incidents recently where sewage backed up into homes because of wipe-induced clogs.

So we`re trying to get the word out there that these wipes are not flushable. They don`t break down. They`re very difficult to clean out of the sewers and so that`s been a challenge for us and many other communities across the country.

The flushable wipes are very hard on the wastewater treatment plant because they get caught up in the processing equipment, which makes the sewer plant less efficient in cleaning the waste water before it is discharged into the river," Cornish said in an email. [The wastewater treatment plant staff have to spend a significant amount of time pulling those wipes out of pumps and equipment. The wipes are labeled as `flushable` however they are not and should not be flushed down the toilet.