Raleigh officials: Your toilet is not a wastebasket
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- As towns across the Triangle struggle with sewage overflows, Raleigh officials want to make one thing clear: your toilet is not a wastebasket.
In Durham this week, clogged toilets sent 600 gallons of raw sewage into a creek.
Raleigh's Environmental Management system coordinator Marti Gibson said the 'flushable wipes' create major problems in the pipes running below the city's streets.
Makeup remover cloths, cleaning wipes, tissues, paper towels, disposable diapers, and even flushable wipes do not disintegrate easily, if at all. Flushing those materials clogs pipes.
Gibson said the toilet is designed to flush only three items, including used water and toilet paper.
Everything else should be thrown in the trash, according to Gibson.
She said ultimately, the clogging creates problems with Raleigh's infrastructure, and the repair costs get passed back to taxpayers.
