COLUMBIANA — According to the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), North American businesses and households spent more than $2.5 billion on personal wipes in 2019 with countless wastewater systems paying the price when they are flushed down the toilet.

The city of Columbiana is the latest to raise the alarm regarding the ramification of flushing items besides the four Ps (pee, poop, puke or toilet paper) into their septic system.

The majority of these other products (even if marketed as flushable) do not fall apart or disperse enough to safely pass through an average home’s plumbing system.

Even if the item makes it through within 30 minutes, it is not without a risk of clogging or causing damage to the wastewater infrastructure.

City manager Lance Willard explained that this includes possible pump replacements in the wastewater system, which cost $40,000 each.

Items like diapers, paper towels, baby wipes and cloth should never be flushed down the toilet for this reason to avoid this.

Whether you have private or public septic, don’t flush the following items: feminine sanitary products (like napkins and tampons), kitty litter, all-purpose cleaning wipes, condoms, adhesive bandages, facial tissue, cotton balls or swabs, hair, candy and gum wrappers, facial pads, makeup remover wipes, mops or mopheads, any plastics (including shopping bags or hard plastic items), oil or grease, cigarettes, dental floss and picks, or cloth items such as T-shirts, towels or washcloths.

Some of these items, such as disposable toilet bowl cleaners and sanitary wipes, may be marketed as flushable but are not.

The NACWA estimates that Ohioans alone paid more than $25 million extra in extra operating costs at U.S. clean water utilities.