Septics and Diaper Wipes

I truly hope this message finds you all well.  I also hope you aren’t eating breakfast or enjoying a nice cup of coffee.  But here it goes.  This is what diaper wipes looks like in a septic tank.  This is about 2 years of build up and is causing a huge problem in our industry.  Companies are putting “septic safe” and “septic approved” on almost all wipes now.

Let me better explain wipes too.  Diaper wipes doesn’t mean someone has kids.  People are now using these more and more to toilet paper for their better “cleaning” abilities.  And let me say this.  It’s okay.  Just put them in the can.  They cannot go into the toilet and into the tank.

Packaging requirements.

I truly think these companies should be held liable for these.  They put terms on the package to make people think they are septic safe.  Like:

Flushable:  This is true.  They will clear all of your plumbing and make it to the tank just fine.

Biodegradable: This is also true.  They Will break down in 99 years or less.  But in this example we were only in year 2 of the 99 years.  So we had another 97 years to go, before the very first diaper wipes that were being added start breaking down.  You can see that this is entirely too long for a septic system.

Septic Approved:  This term should be illegal to use.  There are no people or organizations watching this one.  There is no person named Septic signing off on this stuff.  And it’s costing homeowners 10’s of thousands of dollars.

Final note.  Easy accessible wipes are becoming more and more accessible.  Windex cleaning wipes.  Bleach wipes for countertops and stoves.  And for some reason there is a movement to flush these in the toilet.  I just don’t understand that.  Put it in the garbage.

Also, if you are unfortunate to have fallen for packaging.  Get your tanks pumped out now, before it becomes prohibitively expensive to remove, or in worse case senario replace.  As long as your system is working by the time we pump these out.  You’ll be okay.  But if you wait for it to quit.  Because these wipes are coating your drainfield, then it’s a system replacement.

Thanks a million for reading.

Ronnie