Public Works director: 'Flushable' wipes will still damage wastewater treatment system

By Andy Gardner

The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s top public works official warns that people should not flush baby wipes and sanitary wipes, even though the packaging may say it’s flushable.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to shoppers buying those products in bulk. The store shelves that normally display them are often picked bare. COVID-19 is the potentially fatal respiratory disease that is caused by the novel coronavirus.

Martin said the wipes can cause blockages and even damage pumps at their wastewater treatment plant, which handles their sewer collection.

“If we can have them remove them in their own personal garbage before it reaches us, it’s a lot better for the system, and the life of the pumps. Pumps and treatment systems are not cheap,” said Shawn Martin, SRMT Public Works Department director. ‘What happens when people buy these products, they read on the label, it says flushable … They will go down the drain. The problem is they aren’t biodegradable.”

Martin explained that the wipes “start ragging up” and clog their pumps.

“It has to be removed manually by our operators. We’re trying to eliminate that whole process: getting our operators from trying to remove that from the system prior to treatment,” Martin said. “All these blockages have to be removed manually.”

He said even without the current crisis, they usually have to remove the blockages a couple times per year, but they are seeing more wipes than usual passing through their system.

“It probably happens a couple times a year, even without this panic buying. It’s usually an ongoing problem, since wipes have been on the market,” Martin said. “We’ve seen wipes in the system more so than usual. At the same time we’d like to be proactive and have (system users) remove that beforehand.”

With the ongoing pandemic, Martin said he is doing research into possibly testing the incoming sewage waste for the presence of novel coronavirus. He said quoted the Centers for Disease Control, who says “coronaviruses may be present in raw waste water that is collected from a population where an infection is occurring.”

“I’ve been reading about some things. We use personal protection anyway while we’re at the plants. Even though the virus wasn’t even around (in the past), that’s our typical process. There are steps we can take at the treatment plant itself, to check and see if the virus is in the treatment system itself,” Martin said. “The raw wastewater into the plant will get tested. As it leaves the plant, we have chlorine disinfection which will kill the virus.”

He added that the situation is changing day-to-day, and he needs to learn more about proper procedure for gathering samples and getting them to a lab.

“The community of Akwesasne should be proud and be mindful of the great job their operators do for the community and its visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Remember, they have families and loved ones to return home to as well. Thank an operator whenever you see them,” Martin said.