Tips to Keep Your Sewer System Safe

Residents can help keep the sewer system safe by disposing of chemicals properly and keeping systems blockage free.

Dispose Chemicals Properly

Always ensure that you dispose of household chemicals properly. Certain chemicals when combined in sewer pipes can become toxic, flammable and even explosive. Please follow disposal directions on container.
Dangerous substances include the following:
  • Antifreeze
  • Artists' paints, mediums
  • Brake fluid
  • Fertilizer
  • Floor care products
  • Gasoline
  • Herbicides
  • Insecticides
  • Lighter fluid
  • Motor Oil
  • Paint
  • Paint thinner
  • Rat poison
  • Weed killer

Keep Systems Blockage Free

Keep your drains on a low fat diet. Grease clogs sewer lines just like it clogs your arteries.

The following fatty items should not be put down the drains:
  • Butter and margarine
  • Cooking oil or shortening
  • Fatty food scraps
  • Lard
  • Meat fats
Other items to avoid putting down the train include:
  • Ashes, sand, mud
  • Baby care products
  • Bones
  • Hair
  • Metal and glass
  • Plastics
  • Rags and hygiene products
  • Sticks, limbs and grass

View the Fats, Oils, & Grease Programs page for more information.