Public Works Director Thomas Miller

WINONA LAKE — Crews with Winona Lake’s Street Department are having issues battling items that they say should never be flushed and sent into the sanitary sewer.

In a report to the Winona Lake Town Council Tuesday night, Feb. 21, Public Works Director Thomas Miller said several items, including one that many may think they can flush, are not to be sent down the drain.

“We’re having a lot of problems with sanitary napkins, T-shirts, plastic bags and other items that weren’t intended to go into the sanitary sewer,” Thomas said. “On those disposable napkins it says ‘flushable.’ They may be flushable, but they sure plug up the impellers of my pumps and that causes us a lot of problems.”

Thomas got a chuckle from the board and the audience when he gave mention of Murphy’s Law as it relates to clogs at the sanitary sewer pumping stations.

“And it never happens in the afternoon, it only happens about three o’clock in the morning,” he said. “These items plug our pumps and valves, resulting in unnecessary and costly repairs and potentially resulting in back up issues.”