THE CALL OF NATURE
SHOULDN'T COST THE EARTH
The facts around what happens when we throw more than Poo Pee and Paper down the toilet.
Are Flushable Wipes Really Safe To Flush?
Check out what the experts have to say about flushable wipes.
Flushable wipes may seem like a convenient way to take care of bathroom messes, but you may be surprised to find out that these wipes can cause more harm than good! Find out the truth behind flushable wipes and why you should think twice before flushing them down the toilet!
Just pull a wipe out and clean whatever mess there is. But if disposed of incorrectly, they can do quite the opposite, from causing clogs and leading to significant drainage problems.
Though flushable wipes are advertised as an item that is safe for your drainage system, several professional plumbers say otherwise.
If you take a quick look at the statistics from Sydney Water, more than 75% of blockages are caused by wet wipes.
Wet wipes also cause fatbergs, a conjoined pile of grease, fat and wet wipes. With the increase in demand for these wet wipes, the problem of fatbergs has also become increasingly common.Another factor that makes these fatbergs challenging to deal with is their extraction. Though some machines can pull out most of the fatberg, more is needed to remove the entire piece. To remove the remaining pieces, workers would have to step in manually, and the last thing anybody wants is to spend their day cleaning fatbergs. Check out the link below for full story
Source: https://wpplumbing.com.au/blog/are-flushable-wipes-really-safe-to-flush
CITY OF GREATER GEELONG REPORTS BLOCKAGES
When using toilet facilities, please help our community by disposing of wet wipes correctly.
Baby wipes, make up wipes, and even wipes advertised as ‘flushable’ don’t break down in the sewerage system, and can cause blockages and overflows.
Our crews were required to remove a metre-long blockage from the toilet system at Eastern Beach over the long weekend – this was caused by a failure of the sewerage pipe due to a significant number of wipes being flushed down the toilet.
The Cunningham Pier toilets were also clogged during this time.
Please do the right thing to respect the facilities by throwing all wipes and items like nappies, cotton buds and sanitary items in the bin.
Source: City of Greater Geelong
Two weeks of “intensive works” by Barwon Water crews have cleared a 10-metre fatberg from a sewer at Bellerine St, Geelong. A fatberg is a large mass of solid waste, such as wet wipes and personal hygiene products, and fat that collects in a sewer system.
WET WIPES IN THE TOILET?
While the actions you take in your own household might seem small, you’re one of nearly 5 million people contributing to Sydney’s wastewater every day. We’re all connected, so what you do can make a big difference.
The 2 main causes of blocked pipes are:
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flushing wet wipes, cotton buds, sanitary products and other rubbish down the toilet
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putting cooking fats, oils, grease and food scraps down the sink.
Take a look behind the scenes at our new promotion and watch as Shane Jacobson explains why this campaign is so important.
Source: Sydney Water #areyouflushingkiddingme
ESTIMATE THAT BLOCKAGES COSTING URBAN WATER INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIAN OVER 15 MILLION EACH YEAR
The Water Service Association of Australia estimates that blockages caused by wet wipes are costing urban water industry in Australia over 15 million each year.
“We work really hard to retrieve wet wipes from sewers, but we do still sometimes get a build-up of them which can cause blockages, inconveniences to customers and harm to the environment. “Add fats and oils that people pour down the drain and the fatberg is born,”
Mr McCafferty Yarra Valley Water
WHAT IS A FATBERG & WHAT EFFECT DOES IT HAVE ON OUR ENVIRONMENT?
The term “fatberg” was coined in 2015 and is a play on the word iceberg, only instead of ice, it’s made of fat. A fatberg is a congealed mass of non-biodegradeable waste that collects and forms in sewer systems. Usually this mass doesn’t contain fecal matter or toilet paper, but it does contain things like wet wipes, cooking fat, sanitary napkins, condoms, cotton balls and cotton swabs, and more. Fatbergs can be colossal, and can clog entire sewer systems, causing overflows in sewer systems, and they are as hard or harder than rocks.
source: ecosource
PETROL TANK-SIZED, 42-TONNE 'FATBERG' FOUND IN MELBOURNE SEWER
A 42-tonne fatberg – a giant mass of congealed wet wipes, cloth and oils flushed into our drains and toilets – that was found north of Melbourne is the biggest authorities have seen in the state.
The massive blockage was not related to recent toilet paper shortages, though plumbers have reported a rise in blocked drains with people turning to a range of less suitable substitute materials.
The Age - April 15 2020
THE BIGGEST RECORDED 'FATBERG', WEIGHING 130 TONNES AND STRETCHING 250 METRES, WAS FOUND IN THE SEWERS OF LONDON IN 2013
Let's not go there again. More recently: A 40-tonne fatberg the size of a double-decker bus has been cleared from a London sewer by Thames Water engineers who pulled out some of it by hand.
The Guardian - Oct 2019