Have you seen the crazy videos on social media with the wipe and the pipe arguing? Those hilarious spots are the work of Charlotte Water to try to combat the growing problem of flushable wipes infiltrating the city’s pipes. Betcha didn’t know that wipes (yes, the flushable ones!) are super harmful to our city’s pipes. Check out these statistics from the Charlotte Water website:
There were 164 sanitary sewer overflows in Charlotte last year. 40% of these overflows were caused by debris, which includes wipes. This number is increasing each year with more people in Charlotte using and flushing wipes.
“Flushable” products like wipes do not readily break down upon flushing like toilet paper does and actually remain in a solid state while traveling through the sewer system. This can cause blockages and sanitary overflows on our streets, neighborhoods, creeks, and streams.
Only flush the three P’s down the toilet (pee, poo, and (toilet) paper). Put wipes and other items like tampons, q-tips, and tissue in the trash.
So, take it as your civic duty to decrease (or eliminate!) the amount of flushables wipes that are going down your pipes. It takes a Smarty village!
#PipesHateWipes and deserve to #flowfree every day.
Check out more hilarious spots here.
