Diaper dandies spark sewer snafu

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

SPIRIT LAKE — Some residents haven't exactly dealt the city of Spirit Lake a royal flush.

Diapers in the sewer system have led to burnouts of lift station generators twice in the past month. That could cost taxpayers up to $20,000 in damage, Mayor Renee Eastman told The Press.

"Ultimately, it costs the citizens," Eastman said. "It's money we could spend on something else, and it's not fair to the citizens as a whole."

Eastman said she questions how or if the diapers were flushed down toilets to enter the system.

"Even if they're for infants, it seems too large and I would think that it would flood the toilet," she said. "But then someone commented that they do make toilets large enough to flush them, so who knows?"

Eastman said it's also possible they were tossed down a manhole, but the weight of those covers wouldn't make it an easy task. She said a 12-inch-wide log — a piece of firewood, to be clear — was also recently found in a vault in the sewer system.

"Now common logic will tell you that didn't get flushed down a toilet," she said.

Eastman said there's no telling what will be found in the system. One time a blanket was found in the auger at the treatment site. Early last spring, steel wool caused a problem.

Regardless of sewer system science and mysteries of the size of certain items, city officials said it's critical that residents drop only toilet paper (reasonable amounts, please) into the toilet.

"Please flush responsibly," the police department wrote in an online post. "Anyone found to be maliciously flushing trash, intentionally plugging drainage pipes or dropping debris into the system through access points will be charged and held liable for damage. Please remember that residential toilets and drains are not trash cans."

The most recent damage, in both cases, was to the Frederick Loop lift station, which serves most of the southeast part of the city, including the high school and middle school. The city has four stations.

"This has periodically gone on, but it doesn't seem it was ever this bad," Eastman said. "This happened two times within two weeks."

Eastman asked residents to refrain from throwing sanitary wipes down the toilet even if it says on the container it is OK to do so.

"Those will even plug up the pumps in lift stations. Nothing more than toilet tissue down the toilet," she said. "Even though they are biodegradable, our system can't handle that kind of fabric."

Eastman said the city has launched an education awareness campaign on the matter and recently had automatic dialers installed that will notify the city if there is an emergency with the wastewater system. The dialers cost about $4,300 each. Before, a light at the lift stations would go off, but it could cause a stink if nobody noticed the light within a reasonable amount of time.

"This way we can be notified immediately," Eastman said. "We just can't have people's homes be flooded with sewage."