Recently, my family encountered a very unpleasant experience with our plumbing: waste water was not exiting, in fact, it was backing up!  It is quite lucky for us that we have a utility sink in our basement which happens to be the first thing attached to the end of our waste water pipes, because the waste water started backing up into that sink instead of exploding out of toilets and sinks.

We called our plumber right away who advised us to contact the City of Oneonta first so that they could check their mains for any blockage that our house is attached to.  Fortunately, they found a blockage in the city line and fixed it.

Where is this all going?  Well, I ended up having a conversation with city workers about blockages in the lines and one piece of information that was shared was that flushable wipes which are quite popular are a major problem for the city.  Flushable wipes which of course claim to be biodegradable, are EVENTUALLY biodegradable.  The problem is, they take way too long to break down, causing major blockages in the lines before they finally decompose.  This issue causes the city money to fix these plumbing problems, which translate to taxpayers ultimately footing the bill.

To remedy this issue, if you use flushable wipes, simply throw them in the trash and don't flush them down your toilet.  That also goes for feminine products as well.  Nothing should go down except for toilet paper and what is supposed to.  Many thanks to Tom Pondolfino (City employee) for a job well done and sharing this important information.

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