Don't flush disinfectant wipes or paper towels down the toilet, city warns

The city is issuing a COVID-19-related warning to residents: if you're using disinfectant wipes or paper towels, don't flush them down the toilet.

Andrew Grice, head of Hamilton Water, says flushed wipes have clogged sewers and backed up toilets in other cities. So has people panic buying toilet paper, forcing others to use alternatives like paper towels and napkins, and flushing them when they're done.

None of that is a problem in Hamilton yet, Grice said, and he doesn't want it to be. Hamilton Water is already a "pretty bare bones operation" due to some workers being diverted to pandemic efforts.

"Wipes don't break down for, essentially, ever," Grice said. And "paper towel is pretty robust. It does take a long time for it to break down in the system." Both should be put in the garbage.

When people flush them, "they start to ball together and they create almost like a snowball effect," he said. With the city's combined sewer overflow system, a heavy rainfall could also push the wipes into local watercourses.

In British Columbia, officials are worrying about "fatbergs," a term for when wipes, toilet paper and other problem matter attracts other solid materials and oils to form a giant, sewer-clogging mass.

A similar fear prompted Hamilton to tweet a plea on March 22.

"Please be sure to only flush pee, poo and toilet paper down the toilet," it said. "Other items like paper towels and wipes will wreak havoc in your own pipes, pipes in the neighbourhood and wastewater system."

Mayor Fred Eisenberger has also put out repeated calls for people to stop hoarding.

"There is no magical shortage of toilet paper," he said last week. "Please take what you need and leave some for others because I think that's going to be a very important issue."