Do any of the following items get flushed down the toilet or drains in your home?

Wet wipes (baby wipes, pre-moistened towelettes, cleaning wipes, etc., even those marked “flushable”), Q-Tips or cotton balls/pads, sanitary products, condoms, diapers, dental floss, tissues or paper towels, kitty litter (even that marked “flushable”), hair, gum, cooking grease, fish (goldfish, pet fish), food, medication, cigarette butts, bleach.

You may be surprised to learn that flushing many of these items can wreak havoc on plumbing, as well as septic and sewer systems by either clogging the system or filling the tank, or by damaging equipment.

Wet wipes, for example, may go down the toilet smoothly, but they tend to congregate at 45-degree elbows in home plumbing, eventually clogging the pipes completely. Even if items such as wet wipes, tissues, and diapers do make it to the sewer system’s wastewater treatment plant, they can get caught in pumps and other equipment, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.