It's already a dirty job, but the amount of cleansing wipes clogging up Durango's sewer system has the department begging for relief.
Premoistened wipes are popular "clean-up" tools easily disposed of down the toilet. But because they are less dissolvable than regular toilet paper, city workers are spending more time and money cleaning the city's sewer system and fixing equipment. With the situation reaching epic proportions, Utilities Director Steve Salka is pleading for residents stop the flushing.
"They're flushable, they'll go down your toilet, Salka said. "But what happens when they get into the sewer system, is a two-pronged problem."
The wipes jam sewer pumps and also binds with grease people pour down sinks, creating a "nasty" combination.
"Then it becomes a thicker, gooier mess because all this paper's stuck to the grease," Salka said.
Many other cities are experiencing this problem as well. A quick Google search shows news articles by The Washington Post, New York magazine and the Bangor Daily News.
Hungry yet? A recent sewer-line cleanup may change that.
Durango city workers recently removed about 300 pounds of grease and wipes from the sewer service line connecting the Durango Welcome Center on Main Avenue, Salka said. The building owner discovered the problem when his toilets kept backing up. It was the second time in less than two months that the sewer main had to be cleaned.
"(The grease) gets down into the sewer main where it's colder, and even though they put it down their sink and run it with hot water and it makes it through their pipes, once it gets into the cold sewer main, it gets hard," Salka said. "I know we're talking about gross stuff, but that's basically what happens."
The wipes are hard to get out of the sewer system because they're still incredibly strong, and they get twisted up into the infrastructure.
Utilities crews check the sewer lift-station pumps almost every day, and they use a vacuum to clean out the pipes or use a knife to cut the wipes into pieces to pull out. Salka said these cleanup jobs usually take two or more people up to four hours to finish.
Salka is asking for residents to dispose of these wipes in the trash can instead.
smueller@durangoherald.com