It’s been over two years since Colorado passed a law meant to keep people from flushing wipes down toilets. But that hasn’t fully stopped the pipe-clogging practice.
Senate Bill 23-150 required disposable wipe products, like baby wipes and antibacterial wipes, to be labeled with the phrase “Do Not Flush”. The issue reached a head during COVID-19 lockdowns, when more people were at home and using disposable wipes to disinfect surfaces and packages.
The bill was supported by wastewater utilities across the state, including Metro Water Recovery, which services Denver and many nearby municipalities. To them, wipes are the enemy.
“The reality of that is that those wipes are actually not designed to be flushed down sewers, they don't biodegrade,” said Liam Cavanaugh, Metro Water Recovery’s chief operating officer. “They don't degrade in a way that can be handled by individual homeowners, sewer systems, by collection systems in alleyways and larger pipelines. And they're not made to be handled at wastewater treatment facilities.”
Flushing wipes can cause clogs in both pipes and larger wastewater systems. When that happens, Metro Water staff have to fix it themselves.
“Every time that we have a clog in a pipeline or a clog in our treatment facilities, that requires employees to go into confined spaces potentially, which is in and of itself dangerous,” said Cavanaugh. “They're exposed to physical, chemical, biological hazards when they do that.”
Cavanaugh said there’s no easy way to quantify how many wipes go through the system. Before sewage is treated at Metro Water’s facilities, solid garbage is filtered out through machines that create compacted “logs.”
Anecdotally, Cavanaugh said they’ve seen a reduction in the number of wipes passing through the facilities. But there’s still room for improvement.
Plus, it isn’t just wipes. Metro Water said Coloradans are still flushing things like grease, menstrual products and more. Colorado's flushing ban abides by the “three P’s” rule — the only thing that should go down the toilet is pee, poop and toilet paper.
