SUDBURY -- Officials with the City of Greater Sudbury's wastewater management team say there has been a major increase in the amount of disinfectant wipes and other materials entering the system.
"We understand that people are trying to clean their homes and make them safe for their families but they are not treatable in our system and so we need to get them out of wastewater system," said Michael Loken.
Loken says some wipes on the shelves even say "flushable" on the packaging, but really aren't.
"People do think a lot of products are flushable and they will say flushable on the label but what we say is flushable does not mean treatable. A lot of the products people are using in their homes are used to be really used aggressively for cleaning purposes and so they don't break down in the waste water system."
Loken also said when the products are flushed, they not only clog the system but also break the equipment.
"Which is very costly and dangerous for us. At this time we're getting a lot of water into our system with the spring run off and the spring melt and the rain that we had last night for instance and we need all of our equipment running properly so that we can effectively treat the waste water that were receiving."
Loken says the complete failure of a pump could cost thousands of dollars to repair, which is why the city is asking all residents to place wipes and other non flushable items in the garbage.
