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IRISH WATER HAS urged people to be more mindful of flushing inappropriate things down the toilet after an 8ft sewage blockage was cleared in Co Wicklow.
The blockage occurred as a result of items such as wet wipes, cotton bud sticks, nappies and cotton wool pads being flushed down the toilet instead of being put in the bin.
It was the third blockage, also known as ragging, removed from the Bollarney Wastewater Pumping Station by Wicklow County Council staff in one day last weekend.
Last year, Irish Water cleared more than 6,000 sewer blockages around the country which were caused by inappropriate items being flushed down the toilet.
The utility said thousands of unsuitable items are flushed down the toilet every day.
Annabel Fitzgerald of Irish Water said this has a “significant negative impact” on internal plumbing in homes and businesses, the wastewater network and the marine environment.
“The size and scale of the impact of flushing the wrong items down the toilet is incredible,” she said.
Wastewater infrastructure is being upgraded throughout Ireland, with new treatment plants being built and old plants upgraded as well as the laying of new sewers.
“It is still really important that people recognise the impact of what they flush so the network can function efficiently and effectively,” Fitzgerald said.
“Placing a bin in the bathroom and disposing of sanitary items safely and appropriately has a hugely positive impact on the network and the environment.”
Irish Water is working in partnership with Clean Coasts to deliver the Think Before You Flush campaign, which reminds people of which items are, and are not, suitable to flush down the toilet.
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It’s on the Late Late next Friday
@Roy O’Rourke: Tickled me that…..lol
@Roy O’Rourke: hahahaah brilliant
@Roy O’Rourke: Harris and Fine Gael cronies was it
@Roy O’Rourke: as host ! it’ll do a better job than turd buddy, at least it will have more personality !
@Pixie McMullen: Johnny’s got me covered!!
Some people will never learn, for them we should ban wet wipes and maybe single use plastics should go too.
@Wesley Conboy: agreed. Government needs to come down hard on manufacturers and suppliers. Offer tax incentives to encourage cooperation.
Off the direct topic, but give hemp industry a try (here or import).
@Mushy Peas: agree 100% – manufactures should be made to change the way they make their product where possible ,same goes for those plastic can holders you get on packs of drinks and other cans – surely they could be made of cardboard instead of a non degradable plastic
A few scabby people that don’t want to pay for garbage service…
@emul8ter25: or Irish Water to clear it out
@emul8ter25: Garbage!? Thats up there with saying mom.
@emul8ter25: what’s garbage?
@Jake: your comment
@emul8ter25: Paper towels?
Why are such items still available? Surely there are suitable replacements?
@Barry: what is a suitable replacement to a cotton wool bud or a nappy?
@Tweety McTweeter: face cloth – but only substitute for the first item please!!!
@Tweety McTweeter: Towelling nappies. I’m sure you can live your life without ever using cotton buds. If you must, then put them in the bin.
@Tweety McTweeter: cotton wool bud on a cardboard stick. Cotton is an organic material, the plastic stick is not.
@Tweety McTweeter: use the bin
@Brendan Hughes: just like they USED to be made you mean ? still put them in the bin though !
@Tweety McTweeter: face cloths towelling nappies
@Barry: Like soap…
@Tweety McTweeter: there are plenty of alternatives available. Currently more expensive than non disposable/degradable ones. But the biodegradable ones should become the norm. No reason they shouldn’t ban current wet wipes at a minimum and then onto nappies…
I struggle to take hair out of a blocked shower drain without bokeing!
This is a million times more disgusting though!
Do people really flush nappies?? Seriously irresponsible!
Why do wet wipes say flushable on the packets then? Take it off the package.
@Earl of Daventry: I don’t know why either as we ended up replacing a pump in our treatment unit (new septic tank) because of those flushable toilet wipes for kids. They don’t biodegrade at all and just blocked the unit like that fat berg.
@Earl of Daventry: because they are lying bstards and will tell you any old guff to get their hands on your euros !
Jesus wept
Stupid people
@cr: if someone controlled the bin charges this wouldn’t be such an issue.
The government should give a bin grant to parents with children between newborn and 3-5 because the weight of a decent nappy is phenomenal!
@Me_a_monkey: use cloth nappies
@Me_a_monkey: no excuse. nappy down the jacks???? Terry nappies or if someone can t afford the proper care of a child…..
@Tony Lyons: Slightly off subject I know but when i was a child we had cloth nappies, milk bottles returned for reuse, lemonade bottles with a deposit, every home had shopping bags, the milk was delivered on an electric milk float, we bought loose fruit and vegetables. And now people are trying to introduce these “innovations” to try and make our planet greener? Ah, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.
@Tony Lyons: ah cloth nappies would be much worse for the environment when they get flushed down the toilet
@Me_a_monkey: guess u don’t want to pay for anything
@Me_a_monkey: I agree, a grant or an allowance, if you will, for children should be introduced. I don’t like the name bin grant maybe call it children’s allowance or something like that.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: exactly!and we all went to school in shorts with no shoes or socks.
@Fr Romeo sensini.: Well it didn’t do your football career any harm, with your fine wine and fancy Italian lifestyle.
@Me_a_monkey: you’re honestly suggesting people flush cotton bud, cotton wool and wet wipes down the loo because of bin charges? If someone is so poor they can’t afford to dispose of these items responsibly then I very much doubt they can afford them in the first place. Naples were being flushed down toilets long before bin charges were introduced l. It’s called ignorance not poverty.
@Tony Lyons: best solution … scratch trays for kids, and rolled up newspaper makes a good training aid.
Who the hell flushes nappies down the toilet?
@Newto2016: those who don’t have a car from which to throw them out onto the verges and hedgerows of the countries roads ? or a nearby ‘field” or laneway in which to dump black bags full of them .
@Newto2016: …the anti-mysoginists won’t like the answer to that one I’m afraid. ..
baby wipes made with plastic need to be banned
Chicks be like..
‘I’m heading out, must try change face and skin colour to brown’
But ya look orange Mary?
‘sure orange is a type of brown’
Also sanitary products are not to be flushed down the toilet. Tampons included.
If planning on drinking Guinness this weekend act responsibly and please consider the effect on Ireland’s creaking sewer system first.
I found out the hard way with using so called ‘flushable wipes’. Spent a lovely afternoon with lots of rods to free up the sewerage pipe. The wipes were for kids.
Dirty f#%kers..
There must be an opening to make quickly breakdownable, biodegradable versoions of all these items..
Looks like Captain Caveman.
I puked when the article said Irish Water . Sad Irish Water trying to remain relevant .
@JesusMoreBullshit: apt username
8ft? Why feet? Is this a Brexit story, that Imperial Measure is used?
@Fachtna Roe:
Because a lot of people still use and relate to feet as a measurement.
Really simple!
@Me_a_monkey: they do, it’s called children’s allowance.
@Paul Burke: Paul only seeing your reply now, sorry for the plagiarism above
If you flush nappies and wipes down the toilet you are a swamp creature
Belongs in a museum that beautiful masterpiece
is that brian cowen ?
Mankind survived for thousands of years without wipes.
Industry says these products are biodegradable yet this is not be correct in many cases. Regardless careless irresponsible people will continue to flush unflushables. Irish water must install filters to prevent fat burgs and councils insists installation and uses of fat traps in all restaurants. Immediate calls must also be made for washing machine microplastic filters. Never mind the plastic you see, it is the plastic you don’t see that ends up in oceans and sequested into clouds and ends up in our drinking water and air. Ban oil based plastics incentivise bioplastic it ain’t rocket science
LAZINESS beyond description.
Clearly the work of antivaxers.
Dredging the sewers for a story
@High Tower: nice !
Nappies seem to end up in one of 2 places…..blocking drains or sewage systems, or lying by the bagful at the sides of Ireland’s roads. Dirty tramps.
Wet wipes should be banned!
@Jack Simpson: or made from a material that will bio degrade ,such as hemp or flax .
I found out the hard way with using so called ‘flushable wipes’. Spent a lovely afternoon with lots of rods to free up the sewerage pipe. The wipes were for kids.
@John Caplis: you think you would have learn the first time John
I found out the hard way with using so called ‘flushable wipes’. Spent a lovely afternoon with lots of rods to free up the sewerage pipe. The wipes were for kids.
Blame companies bin wheel rip off as some people can’t afford then nappy & wipe baby throw into flush and need price down bin wheel
@Brian Flavin: It’s a stupid thing to do no matter how much you can’t afford a bin. Things flushed down the toilet don’t just disappear into the ether. You most likely share an pipe with neighbours, and if you block that, the first thing that will happen is that sewerage will overflow into one of your neighbours’ gardens. That’ll mean a bill for the row of houses sharing that pipe. When it’s discovered that it’s a nappy or wet wipes, and if you’re the only house on that row with small kids, you’ll be easily identified among your neighbours as the culprit. The next thing that will happen, if that’s not addressed, is that every house on the row will start seeing waste back up into their houses/toilets, including your own.
@Brian Flavin: is this a cryptic message or are you an alien ? “wipe baby throw into flush ” tusla would have a field day with that !
@gofreak: you can get a bin in places like deals or mr price for a couple of euro – or if your really desperate – ask your local deli if they have any old mayonnaise buckets with a lid – cut a small hole in the lid and there you go -a bin ! this issue is not down to people being able to afford bins -iit is down to laziness and ignorance and a general “i can’t be arsed” attitude .
@gofreak: i know I don’t throw flush & no problem put bin wheel that some people are stupid flush and also rare people can’t afford bin wheel that why put flush cos my father heard gossip location and I wouldn’t flush cos end up big money sum pay for clean block sewage
@Eric Davies: your comment ridiculous stupid
@Brian Flavin: what???
@Brian Flavin: what?
It will be the prize next week on the Late Late Show…
Darn it, was late with that joke…
Come to Arklow, they float around the marina and River on a regular basis, still the new treatment plant is should start construction next year, might stop the toilets flushing directly into the river in about 5 years time
@Michael Byrne: thanks – ive just cancelled my fishing holiday to arklow !!
Donald Trump’s body double
I just puked
These people must be stopped from procreating.
Bon apetite everybody!
What a load of sh**e
More like what the EU what it has to go through with brexit.
Pints or no pints, I’ll pass on the doner kebab tonight.
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