The City of Fredericton is asking its residents to be careful about what they’re flushing down the toilet.
City engineers say some products, such as baby wipes, makeup removers and cleaning wipes, don’t break down and should never be flushed, even if their labels claim they are flushable.
In 2015, the city spent $28,000 removing problem-causing products from the Garden Lake Lagoon, and it spent another $12,000 this year replacing a lift station pump that became overrun with wipes.
“We went as far as going to every single home and business in that sewer shed, knocked on the door and told them, ‘Don’t flush this stuff,’” said Neil Thomas, sewer engineer for Fredericton Water. “I don’t know if it really changed much.”
“A lot of people might be doing it without knowing the damage they do to our system,” said Coun. Henri Mallet. “I think it’s really important too that we change the mindset, I think, the mindset of, well, once it’s out of my house, it’s not my issue anymore.”
Thomas believes better labelling would keep the products out of city pipes.
