Stop Flushing Baby Wipes, Sewer Manager Says

The City of La Grange asks residents to stop flushing baby wipes. These products cause thousands of dollars in sewer damages and maintenance costs, which in turn lead to higher rates for sewer customers.

Andy Blaha of the City of La Grange water and sewer department spoke at last Monday’s City Council meeting about a major sewer malfunction two weeks ago, which he attributed to wipes.

“We got an phone call that the alarm light was flashing at the sewer lift station at the high school on a Saturday about 10 p.m.,” Blaha said. “We went there and nothing was running. So we tripped the breaker and both pumps came on. On Sunday morning we went over there and it was still full. That’s not good. We started vacuuming it out and hauling it to the sewer plant. We called some guys from Houston to look at it and found the force main itself was plugged up.”

Blaha said workers dug up the line and located the plug.

“We cut it out and we found a massive ball of wipes and some kind of a grey bag that I didn’t want to tough to identify,” Blaha said. “I just want to let people know that you should not flush wipes. They are tearing up our pumps. They’re tearing up our system. Twenty years ago grease was the problem. Now it’s the wipes.”

Councilwoman Kathy Weishuhn remarked that “flushable wipes are not flushable.”

“I use this analogy – golf balls are flushable, but that doesn’t mean you should flush them,” Blaha said. “It’s an ongoing fight with the flushable wipes.”

City Manager Fred Bell said the recent sewer repairs come at a great cost, and those costs must be accounted for when the City adjusts its sewer rates.

“I do not have the dollar amount for the equipment used or the labor cost,” Bell said. “But I can say that city crews spent Saturday night, most of Sunday, and part of Monday assessing and excavating the area over the force main in order to identify the exact location of the blockage.

“These hours are considered ‘after hours’ as the employees have to abandon their personal time and come to work in order to assess and fix the problem,” Bell added. “When calculating equipment and labor hours for these incidents, it can easily cost several to tens of thousands of dollars.”

Blaha said a pump at the river bridge lift station had to be replaced recently due to damage from baby wipes. He said the cost to the City was about $20,000.

“The wipes got wrapped around the impeller and it burned up the pump,” Blaha said. “That’s costing us all money.”

Bell said the City will distribute public service announcements to residents to remind them about what times may be flushes down the sewer and what items may not.

“While the packaging on baby wipes may state ‘flushable,’ they should not be as they will cause more damage to the city’s sewer system,” Bell said. “We cannot stress enough the importance of being mindful of what ends up in the sanitary sewer system.

“I am very thankful for and appreciate the commitment and dedication our staff has to our community,” said Bell. “They answer the call, drop what they are doing, and leave their families in order to respond to emergencies that affect our community. We ask the community to help us in keeping our sanitary sewer system working properly by not flushing baby wipes.”