Water Sector News
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Wipes Clogging Up Miami-Dade Sewer System
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Those single-use flushable wipes are popular, but are they causing an even bigger mess?
The answer is yes if you ask officials at the Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department who say those wipes, including the ones marketed as flushable, are clogging the sewer systems.
After being flushed, the journey of your wipe starts with the pipes under your home, where Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) crews use tiny robot cameras to get in and look for problems.
Jose Valladares, a sewer inspection technician, showed CBS4 what the camera footage looked like under the ground.
“The grease, the wipes they throw down the toilet, that’s what they create when you put that all together,” said Valladares. “It adds up like I said, the rags.”
Rags are classified by WASD as items that do not break down in sewer water including paper towels, clothing, hair, female products, hygiene products, and wipes: both non-flushable and flushable.