'Flushable Wipes' Not So Flushable: Montco Sewers Backed Up

Officials are warning residents not to trust the label when it comes to "flushable" wipes.

According to a report recently published in The Pottstown Mercury, the wipes have caused a backup in the sewer system in Pottstown that will cost $500,000 to repair.

The "flushable" phrase is employed by several different companies, but the end result seems to be the same.

In Pottstown, the wipes have clogged up both individual homeowner pipes, as well as the borough's wastewater plant.

In Royersford, authorities issued a pubic service announcement about the wipes, saying that they have caused problems for numerous residents over the last two years or so.

Utilities across the country have been crying foul about the supposedly flushable hygiene products for years, saying that as they gain favor among consumers — adult wet wipe sales were about $2.5 billion in 2015 — they're knotting up America's sewers. The adult wipes are designed to hold up under a tough job, and they don't disappoint, unless you're a public works employee who has to do a sewer dive to untangle the mess.

"Wet wipes are particularly nasty when people flush them down the toilets," a spokesman for the utility company Thames Water told The Independent. "When all these things come together in our sewers, wet wipes stick to fat and anything that is flushed down toilets that shouldn't be, like nappies and sanitary items."

So don't flush anything but toilet paper and human waste, public works officials admonish. Disposable wipes aren't the only things causing problems. Cotton balls, dental floss, paper towels, feminine hygiene products, cigarette butts, condoms and even cat litter are culprits, too.

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