Your local fire chief preaches prevention directly to homeowners. Now the city of Casper, Wyo., is appealing straight to residents to quit flushing the various forms of wipes (and other bad actors) down their toilets.
An article in the Casper Journal newspaper describes a press conference the city was to hold on Wednesday, Feb. 26, to introduce sewer back up prevention program. During the event, at the wastewater treatment plant, representatives announced the program’s slogan, “demonstrated the problem, and discuss the steps being taken to prevent sewer backups caused by flushing paper towels, wipes, and other non-flushable items,” according to the news story.
It’s well known in the industry that wipes can cause substantial problems in collection systems and at treatment plants, where the noxious items have to be screened out. Casper officials say that rags and wipes caused 24 percent of mainline sewer backups in 2013. These items also can cause backups in household piping and laterals and, although Casper doesn’t track and quantify them, their numbers can be significant and the consequences serious. Residents are responsible for blockages within their homes and in their laterals up to the property line.
So, here’s another great example of clean-water operators acting like the fire chief, and gaining respect, by telling residents about the importance of the collection and treatment systems and how to protect them.
