By Rosemary Horvath
Herald Correspondent
Moistened wipes wadded in a sewer line blocked the transfer of waste and caused a back up and serious damage to one Alma residence.
Dismayed she had no control over the situation, the homeowner appealed to city commissioners to prohibit the product.
Dave Ringle, Alma public services director, agreed it could be a solution but “difficult to enforce.” Pinpointing who was responsible for discarding wipes down toilets would be impossible, he said.
City Manager Aeric Ripley added the city’s only option is to continue advising customers to stop discarding moistened wipes down toilets in spite of the packaging claiming disposal is safe.
Moistened wipes may be flushable but they do not disintegrate, he said.
Baby wipes, cleaning wipes, pre-moistened towelettes are best disposed of in a trash can.
Alma, St. Louis, and Ithaca all plead with customers to trash rather than flush the materials.
“There’s a big discrepancy between what the American Public Works Association says and the manufacturers,” Ringle told The Herald, adding “wipes can make it through your toilet but it won’t make it through the other side. It doesn’t take much to collect a whole lot of debris that backs up the system.”
During the Covid pandemic, wipe disposal increased substantially.
Signs are placed at medical centers, nursing homes, and rehab centers as reminders to dispose of wipes in trash bins, not toilets.
Keith Risdon, St. Louis director of public services, knows the extent of damage only too well due to reocurring sewer blockages over the last few years.
The city was forced to retain outside labor to unclog a pump blocked by an accumulation of rags and wipes in 2022. This pump had been removed and completely rebuilt the prior year.
Last April, the Department of Public Works was alerted to a basement drain backing up.
Risdon reported to the city council the frequent clogging at pump stations at Union Street and Michigan Avenue had been caused by rags and wipes accumulating in the sewer line.
Risdon feels the sources of the problem has since been corrected.
Ithaca City Manager had no scenarios to share but said the city encorages residents “to only flush toilet paper. Wipes or other foreign objects can clog a sewer main.”