Arcata Urges Residents: Only Toilet Paper Should Go Down the Toilet

Press release from the City of Arcata:

EPA Flushable Items GraphicThe Environmental Services Department would like to remind all residents of the importance of only flushing toilet paper down the toilet. The Arcata Wastewater Treatment Facility is experiencing an influx of trash and wipes in the sewer system. 

There is an urgent need to stop flushing wipes down the toilet, even ones that are labeled “flushable.” The Arcata Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvement Project is underway, and the City’s wastewater pumping capacity is very sensitive during this time. This is the largest construction project the City has ever undertaken, so please help support the upgrade of Arcata’s wastewater treatment facility. All materials besides toilet paper should always be properly disposed of inside a trash container. 

Many wipes are marketed and sold as “flushable wipes” but that is not the case. No wipe is flushable. These misleading labels and the subsequent flushing of wipes lead to severe impacts. Toilet paper is designed to break down and dissolve but items like wipes, paper towels and feminine products do not disintegrate in water as quickly. When non-flushable items are flushed, they can clog sewer pipes and pump stations which can cause damage, blockages and potentially even overflows into homes or a neighborhood. Don’t rush to flush; remember wipes clog pipes.  

Wastewater treatment facilities are essential infrastructure in protecting the community and the environment. Support the City’s efforts to upgrade local wastewater treatment facilities and remember that no matter what a label says, the only flushable items are human waste and toilet paper. 

To learn more about wastewater and the Arcata Marsh Wastewater Treatment Facility Improvement Project, visit the City’s website cityofarcata.org/331/Wastewater. For questions, please contact the Environmental Services Department at [email protected] or call (707) 822-8184.

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37 Let us come and reason together. Isaiah 1:18
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Neko Baker
Guest
Neko Baker
1 month ago

My body my choice 🕺

farfromputin
Member
farfromputin
1 month ago
Reply to  Neko Baker

No no Neko. It’s act locally, think globally. Now you’re getting it.

Neko Baker
Guest
Neko Baker
1 month ago
Reply to  farfromputin

Sure thing comrade ⚒️

bonmom
Guest
bonmom
1 month ago
Reply to  Neko Baker

You can choose to do what you want with your body (did you vote that way?), but as soon as you flush the toilet, it is a public problem. Go to the Marsh facility, get a tour, and talk to the workers. Even hair is a problem when you multiply it times the local population. Keep a trash bin/bag next to the toilet for any waste other than TP; it is little to ask to keep the community systems functional.

Last edited 1 month ago
Giant Squirrel
Guest
Giant Squirrel
1 month ago

Sounds like just need to clean filters more frequently but, government workers…

Kym Kemp
Admin
1 month ago
Reply to  Giant Squirrel

Or you could get exasperated at taxpayers who want their services to work perfectly but won’t follow basic instructions that are present from private to public entities about not putting anything but toilet paper in the toilet and also don’t want to pay more in taxes to cover the costs of government workers cleaning up their messes.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

The country’s I’ve seen can’t even flush paper. I heard the septic pipes are 4 inch in Thailand. Cambodia 2005 the capital phenom phen 1 3rd of the city has septic. Peru I guess also had 4 inch pipe can’t flush toilet paper and apparently a toilet seat is a luxury item. No hot water even in a motel. Ecuador you got a toilet seat.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

Oh yeah Asia has squat toilets they sick up about 2 inches above the foor. Flush manually you find western style toilets occasionally and bring your own toilet paper it is not supplied.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

After a month in Thailand. My first trip out of the states and having been on the sidelines of a tsunami. I got there Dec 10 2004 thank God we went north. I got back to the San Francisco Airport, and noticed everybody seemed to be scrutinizing me, suspicious looks. It took fifteen minutes to remember, oh yeah terrorists.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

It’s 95 and sunny in Thailand. Right now Its dry season there doesn’t start raining till March. Sandals and shorts.. gorgeous beaches,snorkeling diving.

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

Where in Thailand exactly? Thailand is larger than California and it’s climate varies quite a bit year-round. It’s not 95 everywhere.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago

Cooler in the north hotter in the south.. north cooled off at night alot like California. Beaches are south.the largest full moon rave happens every month if that’s your thing.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago

Thank you for the size . I couldn’t figure that out while I was there ,everything’s measured in kilometers and I didn’t get a good feel. Also I backpacked my friends I went with stayedb 9 months averaging 8 dollars a day. Or you could splurg.also I only got to see northern Thailand they are famous for their beaches. We planed to make a u turn and head south when the 2004 boxer day tsunami hit. Kind messed up the beaches.

Mel
Guest
Mel
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

Well, I’m unimpressed

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

Their are the “hippie trails “from the 60s and 70s.southeast Asia. And south and central america.

treeman53
Member
treeman53
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

You learn a lot traveling third world how blessed we are .

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

What part of Asia? That’s a big place, with lots of people and many, many cosmopolitan, modern cities with amenities that we enjoy here.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago

Southeast Asia yeah it’s big. I would love to go explore rural China.

treeman53
Member
treeman53
1 month ago
Reply to  Unimpressed

Even In old Mexico in the country. You put the toilet paper in the basket

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
1 month ago
Reply to  treeman53

Most of Baja, Norte and Sur, also. Even in some nice establishments.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  treeman53

We seem to be lucky in flushing what we want. This truly is a great country.

Truth Be Told
Member
Truth Be Told
1 month ago
Reply to  Giant Squirrel

Maybe, with your vast knowledge and experience, you can apply for a job and show them how it’s done?

Al L Ivesmatr
Guest
Al L Ivesmatr
1 month ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

Well, if people didn’t use their dirty socks for Toilet Paper in Arcata, they wouldn’t be having problems, now would they. Typical progressives, too cheap to buy tp, they want free tp from the government as part of their free government health care for all butt wellness scheme. They probably go as far to rip off private businesses tp when they utilize their bathrooms. Stuffing it down their Fruit of the Loons. Just like that former Washington Congressman Speaker of the House who followed Tip O’Neill back in the Reagan era who used to steal plastic silverware from airplanes. Loaded his pockets up with two months of disposable utensils everytime he flew to DC and back. He must have had ten lifetimes worth of utensils. The $2.00 cost for a pack of 100 at the supermarket was too much for him to bear. Guess the $150K salary at the time was living in poverty, proving that many of the wealthy whose God is $$$$$ are selfish misers. Opening a sock store in Arcata could be a potential goldmine. Reality bites for hemorrhoids caused by cloth, huh. Oh well.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Truth Be Told

I like batching about the job everybody else is doing. If I took the job I would have to listen to people like me..no I think I will continue a life of trolling.

farfromputin
Member
farfromputin
1 month ago
Reply to  Giant Squirrel

Dental floss and feminine products are the biggest issue which raise havoc with the huge brushes (think carwash type).

CsMisadventures
Guest
CsMisadventures
1 month ago
Reply to  Giant Squirrel

Shove enough things down the toilet or other drains and it won’t be a government worker cleaning it out. It will also come with a bill for services.

Asking for a friend
Guest
Asking for a friend
1 month ago

Shoot, Americans don’t understand their government, how do you expect us to know how a toilet works? SMDH

Farce
Guest
Farce
1 month ago

push handle and poopies go away….don’t call me dum!

Farce
Guest
Farce
1 month ago

In other news Arcata must remind its inhabitants that water is wet, fire is hot and check its website for instructions on how to make ice cubes- and other handy tips!

Farce
Guest
Farce
1 month ago
Reply to  Farce

*college town full of geniuses*

renasci
Guest
renasci
1 month ago
Reply to  Farce

As a former sanitation worker I can tell you this is a problem at a lot of cities. At the treatment plant and at pumping stations.
As shit doesn’t flow uphill it needs help along the way sometimes.

Bug on a Windshield
Guest
Bug on a Windshield
1 month ago
Reply to  renasci

That’s for sure. We live in Eureka, in a gully, below the city’s main line. When the power goes out, so does our pump. Unless we want the overflow from a few flushes and a shower to spill into the backyard, we have the break out the bucket for the, uh, slop, and a paper bag for the paper. You get used to it, although, I do need to round the edges of the bucket’s plywood seat.

Radio Head
Guest
Radio Head
1 month ago

‘Only toilet paper’!!! And all these years I thought MY POOP could go down too! Guess those people who told me that were full of SHIT!

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Radio Head

Well we all use the toilet wrong anyway. It was thought that you would sit facing the wall. The tank could serve as a place to put a magazine. If you ever get bored, try it out.

Unimpressed
Guest
Unimpressed
1 month ago
Reply to  Radio Head

I have heard that Germany has toilets with a “stool display” it is considered healthy to inspect your poop.

Scott Sherman
Guest
Scott Sherman
1 month ago

Wow talk about a city who’s population consists of entitled weak addled morons who need a PSA reminding them don’t flush your empty dope baggies or wipes down the commode?

Martin
Guest
1 month ago

The inventor of the flushing toilet was John Crapper. I am sure he would be please to know that only toilet paper should go through the crapper. If you flush restricted items it will make him angry, and he will plug your sewer line.