Preserving Your Home
It’s important community members and businesses protect their pipes to ensure smooth delivery of recovered water to Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs). When poured down the drain, fats, oils and grease products (FOG) stick to the inside of sewer lines and harden. The build-up of FOG can eventually block sewer lines, causing back-ups into your home.
Things to know:
- Garbage disposals do not keep FOG from entering into the sewer system.
- Running hot water or using a detergent afterward will not eliminate FOG but likely just moves the problem further down the pipe.
- Fixing FOG-ridden pipes can be extremely costly for ratepayers.
Daily Tips to Protect & Preserve
While our job is to keep water clean, we need your help to keep pipes protected from the fats, oils and grease (FOG) that can block pipes and cause sewage overflows and backups.
You can protect your pipes by:
- Scraping food scraps from dishes and utensils directly into the trash.
- Wiping pots and pans with dry paper towels to soak up FOG residue before rinsing or washing them
- Pouring FOG into a container and allowing it to cool and harden. A variety of everyday items can be used as grease containers such as opened soup or vegetable cans and baby food, pickle or mayo jars.
- Putting your FOG container into the freezer to cool even faster.
- Tossing a cooled, hardened FOG liner or disposal container in the trash.
- Saving old grocery or Ziploc bags to use as can liners so you can reuse your grease can.
What Not to Flush
Your toilet doesn’t have a beautiful smile or a skinned knee. It also doesn’t have a headache or high blood pressure, so your toilet doesn’t need any pills, adhesive bandages or dental floss. And neither does our wastewater system.
See below for a full list of “no flush” items:
- Medication
- Adhesive and Medical bandages
- Dental floss
- Paper towels
- Cleaning rags and household wipes
- Diapers
- Cotton swabs
- Feminine hygiene products
Ultimately, the only safe item to flush is toilet paper.
What Not to Pour Down Your Drain
Butter, bacon and salad dressings are all delicious, but your drain doesn’t enjoy them as much as you do.
While these things often enhance the quality of your food, they can seriously damage your pipe system by sticking to the inside of the sewer lines. This can cause build-up and blockages in the sewer system resulting in overflows and backups.
What Type of Foods Cause Drain Damage?
Animal Products: Animal fat, bacon, sausage, spare ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks, organ meats (liver, kidney, etc.), lard, animal fat, etc.
Dairy Products: Milk, cheese, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta or cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream, infant formula, etc.
Oils: Olive, canola, palm, peanut, and vegetable, plus cocoa butter, dressings, margarine, shortening, mayo, etc.
Desserts: Cake, icing, brownies, doughnuts, pies, whipped cream, etc.
Soups & Sauces: Chicken or vegetable broth, gravies, pasta sauce, etc.