Gainesville residents should be well-supplied with toilet paper these days, given the status of most store shelves around the city. However, people have also been buying so-called flushable wipes as they stock up for extended stays at home during the coronavirus pandemic, and that has prompted a word of warning from the director of Gainesville's Water Resources Department.
Linda MacGregor said she wants residents to remember that only toilet paper should be flushed down the toilet.
"Toilet paper is designed to go through the sewer system," MacGregor said. "You can see that toilet paper is thin and it's designed to dissolve in water."
Flushing items like so-called flushable wipes, baby wipes, make-up wipes and paper towels can cause big problems for the city's sewer system.
"Wipes are great, [but] I might dispute the flushable word," MacGregor said. "The wipes are not going to dissolve in water, which means they're going to possibly clog a sewer line. So, despite what the packaging might say, we would recommend that you flush toilet paper, but all other products you put in your trash can."
Gainesville has 265 miles of sewer and the goal is to keep the system moving freely.
"If there are wipes that might get all rolled up in a ball, then that can cause a problem. If the wipes get caught up with fats, oil and grease, which you should not be putting down your kitchen sink, then it can be an impediment to the free-flowing water that we want in the sewer lines," MacGregor said.
As far as the fat, oil and grease - or FOG - that are generated in the kitchen, MacGregor said those substances should also be discarded in the garbage, as well.
MacGregor said the water department is considered an essential service, but for now, it is in modified operation mode during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Our plants are staffed 24-7 with certified operators and our other field crews are still functioning, although in a slightly modified way," MacGregor said, noting that those crews are maintaining required social distancing with customers.
She said the lobby of the department is closed, but the drive-thru is open to take payments.
