On the brink of being made illegal in the UK and the subject of robust court action in Australia, the controversial wet wipe is beginning to have a greater impact on sewerage systems in central Victoria.
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Just under 40 per cent of sewer blockages in the region came from foreign objects including nappies, sanitary items, paper towels, 'flushable' wet wipes, food scraps and oil.
And while tree roots are still the biggest blockage culprit, Coliban Water’s manager of customer operations Steve Dunlop said roots often catch foreign objects which have been flushed down the toilet or washed down the sink.
Last financial year, Coliban Water averaged around 40 blockages for every 100 kilometres of sewer main, and Mr Dunlop said while the blockage rate has decreased over the years, the percentage of blockages from foreign objects, in particular paper towels and wet wipes, has spiked.
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“Sewer blockages can cause a serious impact to the environment and are expensive to clean up. It is estimated that blockages caused mainly by wet wipes are costing the urban water industry tens of millions of dollars,” he said.
In August, Coliban Water spent a week cleaning and disinfecting Back Creek in Spring Gully after a sewer manhole in Retreat Road overflowed, spilling effluent into the waterway.
The cause? Wet wipes and rags.
Blockages were not just an issue for water companies, but also customers’ pipes.
Mr Dunlop said there was a high likelihood paper towels and wipes will get caught in customers’ pipes before it reaches Coliban Water pipes – potentially causing sewer spills within homes or backyards.
Customers, in that case, were responsible for plumbing costs, he said.
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The notion of a fatberg – a gigantic clump of sewer-clogging wet wipes, congealed via oil and other waste products – was popularised in the UK, where the single-use comfort cloths are on the verge of being banned by the government.
Manufacturers, it seems, are also contributing to the problem.
In April, the Federal Court fined Pental Limited and Pental Products Pty Ltd, the creator of White King's ‘flushable’ toilet and bathroom cleaning wipes with a $700,000 fine for misleading advertising.
It was ordered to pay penalties for claiming the product would disintegrate in the sewage system "just like toilet paper".
According to the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA), Yarra Valley Water removes 2000 kilograms of wet wipes from their system each week, which equates to over four tonnes a fortnight, while City West Water spends more than $1 million a year clearing sewer blockages.
No tonnage figures were available for central Victoria.
Single-use plastic bags were banned in Victoria last year following intense lobbying from environmental groups.
Bendigo Sustainability Group last year created an of-shoot organisation, Plastic Wise Bendigo, to heighten community awareness of the environmental impact of single-use plastic.
BSG president Chris Weir said single-use wet wipes had “flown under the radar” thus far, but added the group was open to working with Coliban Water to raise its profile.
The state government was contacted for comment.
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