What NOT to Flush!

People sometimes view the toilet as an auxiliary wastebasket - an easy place to dump all kinds of things and make them disappear with the pull of a handle or by turning on a faucet. Unfortunately, many of the items that often end up in the toilet - even products labeled "flushable" or "biodegradable" - can cause significant clogging problems not only in your home or businesses wastewater plumbing, but also for your community's sanitary sewer system and in the La Crosse Wastewater Treatment Plant.

There are only three things that can be safely flushed down the toilet or washed down the drain regardless of how easily it appears to slide down the bottom of your toilet or down the sink drain. They are:

• Human Body Waste
• Toilet Paper
• Used water

Common items that are flushed, BUT SHOULD NOT BE

• Wet Wipes (Baby wipes, disinfecting wipes, "flushable" wipes
• Paper towels
• Paper
• Disposable diapers and Facial Tissues
• Feminine hygiene products and condoms
• Cotton swabs and band-aids
• Grease/oil
• Dental floss
• Cat Litter
• Cigarette butts
• Needles

Often, these items do not make it past the lateral connection from your home to your local sewer system, building up and clogging the line. If these products make it to the street, they can still plug up and damage the pipes and pumps that convey sewage to the La Crosse Waste Water Treatment Plant, potentially causing overflows and basement backups that can be costly to repair. If those products make it to the treatment plant, they can also jam up equipment there.

Impact on sewer system of these unacceptable items in the sanitary sewer system

• Clogged pumps
• Increased overflows
• Plugged plumbing and septic systems
• Labor time/cost to respond
• Failed equipment
• Injuries to staff cleaning up non-flushable items

To help protect the investment we have all made in our homes and the municipal sewer system, please dispose of all disposable wipes, personal hygiene products, and all other items listed above or that do not meet the 3 flushable items above, in the garbage and NOT the toilet.

Unacceptable Sanitary Sewer Materials

Grease and Oil Disposal

The City of La Crosse Sewer Ordinance requires that restaurants install and maintain grease traps and/or interceptors to prevent grease from entering the sewer system. Ultimately, the owner/manager of a restaurant is responsible for everything that is put down the drain in their facility. However, residents in their home should also be sure to throw used grease oil in the trash and not put it down the drain.

Flushable Wipes Disposal

Toilet paper is made with short fibers to be strong enough for use, but to disintegrate quickly to reduce the impact on your plumbing. Of course, if the toilet paper you are using is triple ply, super quilted, it will take longer to disintegrate, which means it will be bulkier and take up more room in your plumbing. Toilet paper will disintegrate before it makes it to the wastewater treatment plant. Most toilet paper will disintegrate within a matter of seconds once in agitating water.

Wet wipe, or "flushable" wipes do not disintegrate quickly, and remain fully intact when arriving to the wastewater treatment plant. In fact, in some tests, they barely began to break down after 35 minutes of rapid agitation.  Avoid flushing any type of wipe, "flushable" or otherwise, down the toilet. This will prevent costly clogs and environmental damaging overflows in the municipal wastewater system. Make sure they are properly disposed of in the trash.

Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs also should never be flushed down the toilet or thrown into the garbage. When put down the drain, drugs and pharmaceuticals can get right back into our drinking water supply, and be harmful to fish and other wildlife. Wastewater Treatment facilities are not designed to remove these contaminants from their effluent (or discharge). Drop-off sites at the local police departments are available where you can safely dispose of unused or unwanted drugs or prescriptions.

Needles

Unfortunately, some people dispose of hypodermic needles in the wastewater system. The presence of these needles in the wastewater collection system presents special and possibly deadly problems for wastewater collection and wastewater treatment employees.

The proper method of disposal is to re-cap the needle and put it into a "sharps container". (This could be any rigid plastic container such as a bleach bottle.... no milk bottles, please.) When it is full, tape the container securely, and call your local pharmacy for advice on proper disposal methods.

PLEASE DO NOT FLUSH NEEDLES OR THROW THEM IN THE GARBAGE!

Wastewater should only contain solids that have been ground or dissolved to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely in suspension under conditions normally prevailing in public sewers. Solid particles shall be no more than one-half inch (1/2”) in any dimension.You can do simple things to help protect your sewer lateral as well as the municipal sanitary sewer system.

Toilet paper is made with short fibers to be strong enough for use, but to disintegrate quickly to reduce the impact on your plumbing. Of course, if the toilet paper you are using is triple ply, super quilted, it will take longer to disintegrate, which means it will be bulkier and take up more room in your plumbing. Toilet paper will disintegrate before it makes it to the wastewater treatment plant. Most toilet paper will disintegrate within a matter of seconds once in agitating water.

Wet wipe, or "flushable" wipes do not disintegrate quickly, and remain fully intact when arriving to the wastewater treatment plant. In fact, in some tests, they barely began to break down after 35 minutes of rapid agitation. 

Avoid flushing any type of wipe, "flushable" or otherwise, down the toilet. This will prevent costly clogs and environmental damaging overflows in the municipal wastewater system. Make sure they are properly disposed of in the trash.

We are committed to providing City of La Crosse residents with a safe and environmentally sound wastewater collection and treatment system. Such a system is vital to support a quality lifestyle, a strong local economy, and to protect our environment. Unfortunately, grease, a common material, can build up in our collection system and severely impact maintenance and operational cost.

The accumulation of fats, oils, and grease in the sanitary sewer systems is a leading cause of sewer blockages across the U.S.

Every day, household and commercial kitchens produce large amounts of fats, oils, and grease. These by-products of cooking are bad for the sanitary sewer system. Over time, they begin to adhere to the sides of the sewer lines and begin to buildup, eventually causing a backup.

The blockages cause sanitary sewer overflows into local waterways and backups into nearby homes and businesses.

The maintenance cost associated with the blockages is passed along to all sewer ratepayers. This additional cost would be unnecessary if the problem did not exist. Clearly, the prevention of grease entering into our sanitary sewers is the key to our problem.

Grease Management Tips

Grease sources

• Meat fats
• Lard
• Food scraps
• Dressings and sauces
• Baking goods
• Butter and margarine
• Shortening
• Dairy products

Prevention

Here are some easy steps to make sure fats, oils, and grease do not make it into our sanitary sewer system

• Never pour grease down sink drains, garbage disposals or into toilets.
• Use a paper towel to clean up the excess grease residue left on pots, pans and utensils. Dispose of this greasy towel into the trash.
• Scrape all food scraps from trays, plates, pots, pans, utensils and any cooking surface into the trash for disposal.
• Talk with your family, friends, and neighbors about some easy steps that they can take to help prevent fats, oils and grease from getting into our sanitary sewer system.
• Train your kitchen staff to use the best management practices for cleanup and grease disposal.
• Conspicuously post no grease signs near drains and sinks.
• Recycle waste cooking oil.
• Clean under sink grease traps weekly.
• Clean outdoor grease traps monthly.
• Keep accurate records of grease trap maintenance. Include dates, amounts, disposal methods, and service staff.

IMPORTANT: The City of La Crosse Sewer Ordinance requires that restaurants install and maintain grease traps and/or interceptors to prevent grease from entering the sewer system. Ultimately, the owner/manager of a restaurant is responsible for everything that is put down the drain in their facility. However, residents in their home should also be sure to throw used grease oil in the trash, and not put it down the drain.

Pharmaceuticals Disposal

Did you know that traces of pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment, primarily in water (surface water, groundwater, and drinking water) and soil?

One of the ways pharmaceuticals get into our environment is by consumers throwing medications (prescription drugs and non-prescription/over-the-counter drugs) and other personal care products in the garbage or flushing them down the toilet or the sink.

The potential human health risks associated with minute levels of pharmaceuticals in water in general and drinking water in particular is small; however, taking preventative action by disposing of pharmaceuticals safely helps protect our drinking water sources over the long term. When put down the drain, drugs and pharmaceuticals can get right back into our drinking water supply and be harmful to fish and other wildlife. Wastewater Treatment facilities are not designed to remove these contaminants from their effluent (or treated wastewater discharged into the river).

Unused, expired, or unwanted pharmaceuticals should not be disposed of in the sanitary sewer system. Pharmaceuticals include prescription, non-prescription or over the counter, all species, liquid or solid, and regulated or non-regulated. Management of unused, expired, or unwanted pharmaceuticals should be in accordance with applicable federal, state, and/or local regulations.

Drop-off sites at the local police departments are available where you can safely dispose of unused or unwanted drugs or prescriptions.

Medication Disposal Do's and Don'ts

DO

• Reduce pharmaceutical and medication waste whenever possible:
• Buy only as much as can reasonably be used in the immediate future.
• Ask the doctor to prescribe only enough to see if a new prescription medication will work for you, and in the lowest dose advisable.
• Dispose of the remainder properly by utilizing local permanent drop-box to dispose of your unused pharmaceuticals.

If you are unable to take medications to one of the above, free, 24/7 drop off locations, render your leftovers unattractive by mixing them with coffee grounds or cat litter. Then place them in your trash for disposal in a licensed solid waste landfill.

DON’T

• Flush waste drugs down the toilet or sink drain.
• Burn pharmaceuticals or personal care products in a burn barrel.