Protect your pipes - and ours! Your sanitary sewer pipes take wastewater from your kitchen and bathroom to city sewer lines. These pipes lead to a wastewater treatment plant that cleans the water so it can be released to the environment, starting the cycle over.
You can keep your sewer lines working well in your kitchen and bathroom by following the easy tips below.
In your bathroom
You may not give too much thought to how you dispose of things in the bathroom, but it’s important to only flush toilet paper and human waste. Flushing trash and wipes can lead to clogs and sewer backups.
Never flush:
- So-called flushable wipes - even if they say flushable, they can still clog pipes.
- Baby wipes
- Cleaning wipes
- Menstrual products
- Dental floss
- Trash
- Diapers
- Rags
- Medication, which can be disposed of at a drop-off location
Keep a trash can with a lid in your bathroom to dispose of trash - remember, your toilet is not a trash can!
In your kitchen
FOG stands for fats, oil and grease, and it's a big problem for your sewer! FOG sticks to the sides of pipes and eventually clogs them. This can cause sewer backups and odor problems in your home. If the FOG reaches city sewer lines, it can cause clogs that lead to sanitary sewer overflows, when untreated sewage spills into yards, streets and creeks.
FOG includes lots of food waste from cooking that should not be put down the drain, such as:
- Meat fats
- Sauces and dressings
- Cooking oil
- Fryer oil
- Shortening
- Butter and margarine
- Lard
- Dairy products
You can keep your plumbing working well by following these simple tips:
- Pour FOG into a sealable container and allow it to cool. Dispose of it in the trash.
- Scrape food scraps into the trash.
- Wipe cookware and dishes with a paper towel before washing them to remove FOG.
- Your garbage disposal is not a trash can! Limit using your garbage disposal as much as possible since grinding food up does not get rid of sticky grease.
- Place strainers in your sink to catch food. Dispose of the scraps in the trash.