Preventing Drain Clogs & Sewer Blockages
- Prevent drain clogs and sewer blockages by putting meat fats, cooking oil, lard, shortening, butter, margarine, or any other types of grease and fat in the trash, not down the drain. When grease is washed down the drain, it sticks to the inside of sewer pipes (both on your property and in the main sewer lines in the street.) Over time, it builds up and can block an entire pipe.
- Garbage disposals do not keep grease out of the sewer lines, they only shred it into smaller pieces. Commercial additives, including detergents that claim to dissolve grease, may pass it down the line and cause problems away from the source.
- Don't put produce stickers down the drain.
- Do use baskets or strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids and empty them into the trash or compost them.
- Do scrape grease and food scraps from cooking surfaces into a container and put in the trash can, or compost them.
- Keep roots out of sewer pipelines by planting trees and bushes away from your home building sewer and lateral connection to the sewer line.
Grease-blocked sewer pipe can result in:
- Sewage overflows in your home or your neighbor's home
- Expensive and unpleasant cleanup that often must be paid for by the property owner. The average cleanup cost is about $3,000 which does not include replacing carpets and repairing walls.
- Possible contact with disease-causing organisms
- An increase in operation and maintenance costs by the WGMA treatment system, which causes higher sewer bills for customers.
Thanks for doing your part to keep fats, oils and greases out of the sewer!!
When it comes to bathroom disposal...
Think trash not toilets. The label may say “flushable,” but disposable wipes and other products are clogging our sewer lines and damaging expensive pumps and equipment. Drains, toilets and trash cans are not all the same. Disposing of trash down drains and toilets causes severe damages to your household plumbing and will lead to sewer overflows and back-ups that cause harm to human health and our local environment and wastewater system. If it isn't from your body or toilet paper, put it in the trash, or recycle, instead of the toilet.
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