Only three things should ever go in a toilet: pee, poo and toilet paper. Londoners are using toilets as garbage cans, flushing everything from cooking grease and clothes to dental floss and diapers. If something fits in a toilet bowl, chances are it has ended up at one of London’s 36 pumping stations.
David Grant, a local plumber here in London says that just because you can successfully flush something down your toilet does not mean it’s ‘flushable”. “It’s crazy what I’ve found while working. The things people try to flush down the toilet blows me away. Things like toys, pens and rages are just some of the things I’ve found.” Grant explains that people think certain things are flushable but are the complete opposite. An example is a product created a few years ago called Flushable wipes.
“There is no such thing as ‘flushable’ wipes. It’s one of our biggest money makers when eeling out sewers is flushable wipes. If you have any tree roots in your line they catch on it and form like a dam.” Grant said. “It can create serious damage and even cause basement flooding.”
Non-flushable items are wreaking havoc on waste-water systems across Canada, costing an estimated $250 million a year to remove. London spends about $500,000 a year cleaning clogged sanitary sewers. Grant thinks that the money spent on this could be drastically lower if everyone stuck to the 3 P’s.
Pee.
Poo.
Paper.
“Everybody pays taxes. Anything that is flushed down your toilet that is not meant to is more work for the water treatment plant and is gonna raise costs and make everybody bare that burden.” Grant said. “If everyone followed the simple pee poo and paper rule it would save the time and money of taxpayers”
Grant says that anything else but the 3 P’s should go in a waste basket, never down the toilet
