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Popular Bathroom Wipes Blamed For Sewer Clogs Nationwide
CBS/AP ^ | September 23, 2013 8:05 AM

Posted on 09/23/2013 12:11:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents 300 wastewater agencies, says it has been hearing complaints about wipes from sewer systems big and small for about the past four years.

That roughly coincides with the ramped-up marketing of the “flushable cleansing cloths” as a cleaner, fresher option than dry toilet paper alone. A trade group says wipes are a $6 billion-a-year industry, with sales of consumer wipes increasing nearly 5 percent a year since 2007 and expected to grow at a rate of 6 percent annually for the next five years.

...

Manufacturers insist wipes labeled flushable aren’t the problem, pointing instead to baby and other cleaning wipes marked as nonflushable that are often being used by adults.

“My team regularly goes sewer diving” to analyze what’s causing problems, said Trina McCormick, a senior manager at Kimberly-Clark Corp., maker of Cottonelle. “We’ve seen the majority, 90 percent in fact, are items that are not supposed to be flushed, like paper towels, feminine products or baby wipes.”

(Excerpt) Read more at losangeles.cbslocal.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bathroom; bathroomwipes; buttwipes; toilet; wastewater
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

Good idea, thanks.


61 posted on 09/23/2013 1:13:08 PM PDT by Slyfox (Satan's goal is to rub out the image of God he sees in the face of every human.)
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To: BenLurkin

DUh, you can’t flush those. They are very useful but not flush able.


62 posted on 09/23/2013 1:13:58 PM PDT by Yaelle
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To: Slyfox

You could also probably figure out a way to heighten the fill tube with some PVC pipe and epoxy or silicone.


63 posted on 09/23/2013 1:15:10 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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To: Vendome

It sounds funny! I understand about the typing. My fat thumbs and small smart phone screen size makes me look drunk most of the time.


64 posted on 09/23/2013 1:17:47 PM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to thoe tumbril wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Haha, that guy is full of $hizat! There is no freaking way that a human being (at least the ones that do it) can install one mile of SECTIONED pipe with a 1/8 inch drop and not have peaks and valleys in the installation where effluent parks, especially after backfill, settling, etc. WRT septic tanks, the septic tank guy I talked to said each flush should flow completely to the septic tank. I was surprised about that.


65 posted on 09/23/2013 1:26:26 PM PDT by SgtHooper (The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list.)
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To: BenLurkin
My daughter uses these. She usually gets the flushable ones, but last time got unflushables.

She did not realize it: the only reference to them being unflushable was a very small icon on the back of the package showing a person tossing the wipe into a toilet with a superimposed crossed circle over it. No words, just the (very tiny) picture.

66 posted on 09/23/2013 1:27:32 PM PDT by jeffc (The U.S. media are our enemy)
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To: Vendome

Reminds me of going into the rest room after someone who happens to be an immigrant. Big dump, unflushed, in the toilet. No toilet paper used. Ewwwww.


67 posted on 09/23/2013 1:30:37 PM PDT by informavoracious (We're being "punished" with Stanley Ann's baby. Obamacare: shovel-ready healthcare.)
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To: Marcella

Great prepper tip too. Thanks!


68 posted on 09/23/2013 1:37:26 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statemet of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: jurroppi1

It has nothing to do with clogging the toilet or how much you are trying to flush. When you have to cut them off a snake with a sharp knife they are not biodegradable in the system. Low flow toilets exacerbate the problem because there is not enough water to carry them down long runs of drainage pipe and they do not break down on the way like toilet paper.

When they enter a septic tank, they do not break down and can clog the fields and damage the system.

Municipal systems can’t cope with them either because the grinder pumps at lift stations are not made to chop up the material they are made of and get jammed.

I’ve been on countless calls due to these wipes when there was never a problem before the use of them.


69 posted on 09/23/2013 1:42:28 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: jboot
I got some 1950’s-era commodes with the new investment property. They are coming with me when I sell it. You can flush more-or-less anything down these puppies.

Absolutely. I made this point with a lib relative.

He had just bought a '50s-era ranch with a vintage bathroom.

"Nice bathroom! If you ever move, make sure you take that toilet with you."

"Why?"

"Well, you won't have to flush five times to do your business."

"Oh..." < squinty scowl>

Hey, you have to teach them any way you can.

70 posted on 09/23/2013 1:43:01 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: higgmeister

“I had a plumber in to replace the dripping faucet shutoff valve and when he finished he dumped the wastebasket, full of paper towels we had used to wipe up the water, into the toilet.”

You need to find another plumber.


71 posted on 09/23/2013 1:46:04 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: BenLurkin

“Great prepper tip too. Thanks!”

The cheapest price is at Walmart, “Equate Flushable Wipes”, to compare to Cottonelle Fresh Care Flushable Moist Wipes.

You can store a huge amount in a small space. Get those, then don’t worry about having toilet paper if TSHTF.


72 posted on 09/23/2013 1:48:07 PM PDT by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. I am a Christian, not a Muslim.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

“If they are strong enough to be wet and not tear, then they are NOT made for flushing, no matter what they say.”

You said it - the basic truth, and it is the truth regardless of the “new” toilets, how much water they flush in single flush or water pressure itself.

Our plumbing systems have survived toilet paper BECAUSE it breaks down easily; wipes do not.

Just leave some toilet paper sitting in a “clean” toilet bowel all by itself and in not too long a time it will start to break up without any “flushing action”. That’s not true for many wipes, before or after flushing. EVERYTHING that normally goes into a toilet will start to break up and break down before they do.


73 posted on 09/23/2013 2:01:09 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Vendome

Are you positive that it didn’t say “Do not put anything in this toilet that was NOT eaten first!”


74 posted on 09/23/2013 2:13:29 PM PDT by B4Ranch (AGENDA: Grinding America Down ----- <<http://vimeo.com/63749370)
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To: headstamp 2

Well, like I said, I’ve never had a problem using them, and none of the ones I’ve seen are nearly as tough as you describe - hell most of them tear (if you’re not careful) while being pulled out of the dispenser , which is silicone gel. I think a lot of people are using wipes that are not by design flushable and not degradable in the system (those are much stronger). I’ve watched the Cottonelle brand dissolve in water.


75 posted on 09/23/2013 2:33:41 PM PDT by jurroppi1
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To: BenLurkin

Truthfully, wiping with toilet paper is neither efficient nor sanitary, compared to flushing the area with water, which removes far more feces, then just drying with a little TP.

Once you get used to flushing, it is pretty obvious that wiping with TP is just gross.

A simple, inexpensive means to do so is to use a suspended hot water bottle, rigged as an enema device, but not inserted, just washing the area. It really does a much better job.

Some toilets are now coming equipped with water nozzles under the rim, for that purpose.


76 posted on 09/23/2013 2:52:10 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (The best War on Terror News is at rantburg.com)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

What is this “toilet paper” of which you speak?


77 posted on 09/23/2013 2:53:04 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statemet of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

I know they say flushable, but that’s dumb. Whatever they say, it’s just not worth clogging the pipes and keeping RotoRooter in business.


78 posted on 09/23/2013 2:56:03 PM PDT by grania
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

If you’re going to go to all that trouble to get a clean butt, why not just install a bidet?


79 posted on 09/23/2013 4:28:52 PM PDT by jespasinthru (Proud member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.)
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To: BenLurkin

Logically, if they are made to wipe wet, they will not break down when flushed. Probably would fill up a septic with inert mass as well.


80 posted on 09/23/2013 6:12:43 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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