Scottville asking residents to be careful what they flush

SCOTTVILLE — The Scottville City Commission dealt with a stinky subject Monday night: what goes down the toilet. City Manager Amy Williams told commissioners, during their regular meeting, that the city has had issued with items getting stuck in its sewer pumps.

“We have been having some issues with foreign items in our sewer lift stations as well as in individual grinder pumps,” Williams said. “Those so called ‘flushable wipes’ that are advertised everywhere should not be flushed as they are not biodegradable. Other items such as cotton swabs, baby wipes, toilet cleaning pads, disinfecting wipes and feminine care products, etc. should not be flushed even though they may be marketed as such.  These items will not break down in water and become tangled in our lift stations or grinder pumps and also have a greater chance of becoming lodged in individual sewer lines.”

Williams said the Department of Public Works crew has spent a considerable amount of time and money fixing jammed grinder pumps and removing items from the lift station pumps.

“The issue is only getting worse as more and more of these products are hitting the store shelves.  Until such a time they are no longer marked ‘flushable’ we wanted to bring this issue to the public in asking for their assistance.

“Without being too descriptive, the only items that should be flushed down a toilet are bodily waste & toilet paper.  All other items should be placed in the garbage.  The longer this continues the more expense the city will have and those costs are shared by all those people who pay water and sewer bills.  The easy solution here is to just not flush those items.”