Ayotte: Wipes causing sewer failure

    AUGUSTA — State Rep. Bernard Ayotte is spreading the word that baby wipes and similar items being flushed down toilets all over Maine are causing serious and expensive problems at wastewater treatment plants.     “As a member of the Natural Resources Committee in the Legislature, I have worked closely with wastewater treatment operators in Maine,” said Rep. Ayotte (R-Caswell). “One of the worst problems they face is the damage to pumps from the millions of disposable baby wipes, wet wipes and the like that are flushed down the toilet. They destroy the pumps.”
    The Portland Water District, for example, has experienced an increase in wastewater pump station malfunctions. Crews regularly unclog mounds of disposable and flushable wipes from pumps at considerable expense and cost to the environment. When equipment clogs, wastewater backs up into homes and the spills over into rivers and bays. According to a brochure from the district, “Even though products may indicate that they are biodegradable or can be flushed, they do not break down in time to make it through the wastewater process.”
    An official at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said the wipes form “ropes” as long as 30 feet that wrap around pumps, impellers and other moving parts. “We’ve seen cases where a $2 million pump station is installed and in six months the pump is burned out,” said Andrew Fisk, director of DEP’s Land and Water Bureau. “The ropes can impact the system even before they reach the pumping station, in the sewers. It’s a huge problem that costs millions of dollars for maintenance and replacement parts and it could so easily be avoided.”
    “As a state representative who is interested in the quality of our water, I am asking the citizens of Maine to refrain or avoid, under all possible circumstances, the disposing of wipes in this manner,” said Rep. Ayotte. “Please take this simple precaution and help our water treatment plant operators keep our waters clean.”