Silver City -- The Town of Silver City's Utilities Department staff are asking residents to please make sure that those handy dandy hand and disinfectant wipes go in the wastebasket, not the toilet, because they are causing problems within city sewer mains, and can even create sewer backups into the home.

"We get calls about sewer service lines backing up, we rout out the main line and are finding that disposable wipes are the main cause of the backups," said Utilities Director Robert Esqueda. "We've had two sewer spills on the main trunk line going to the treatment plant, one of which was a substantial sewer spill at the golf course last year, and the cause was these wipes that get caught up in the main line. We need residents to throw them in the garbage and not flush them down the toilet."

Esqueda added that sewer spills can become quite costly for the town, and therefore residents, when corrective action is required by the New Mexico Environment Department when a significant spill occurs. After the spill at the golf course, for example, the state required that the town remove solids and debris from the arroyo, conduct soil and groundwater tests, and test residential wells to ensure they weren't contaminated. 

When the wipes cause the pumps at sewer lift stations to fail, maintenance crews have to pull the pumps and clean them out or potentially even replace them. All of these actions divert resources from other utility needs.

The COVID pandemic greatly expanded the use of these convenient, antibacterial and disinfecting handwipes, but they are wreaking havoc on sewer systems across the country, not just here in Silver City, added Esqueda. 

"Keep using them, but make sure they are thrown in the trash can, and not flushed down the toilet," he said. "If they're not paper based, which these wipes are not, they don't break down. They get caught up in the sewer lines and cause backups, even in the home."