The advent of plumbing was revolutionary to health and convenience, dating back to Ancient Rome. Waste that otherwise would collect in gutters and streets is now flushed away down the pipes. However, this convenience isn’t meant to extend to everything. There are several things that you should never get into your plumbing system. Here are four of the big ones that few people think of when considering what to rinse or flush away down the drain.
Medications
Popular television and films often show people flushing drugs down the drain during a drugs bust, as well as addicts flushing their pills as a defiant gesture of freedom. While most medications probably won’t clog your drain, the chemicals inside them can get into the local water supply if a lot of people do this often enough. Because plumbing systems will often empty into nearby lakes, rivers, and ocean outlets, your medications will end up there as well if they are flushed. This is damaging to the wildlife and can eventually taint the water that is collected and treated (for heavy metals, not medications) to come back through your faucet.
Clay Masks
Facial masks can be a great way to improve your skin, and it is only natural that you might want to wash them off down the kitchen or bathroom drain when you’re removing them. However, the components in these masks can clog your drains easily. Clay is very sticky and, while it can dissolve in water, it is more prone to cling to surfaces and to itself where possible. When clay clogs up enough of your drain, the pressure can burst your pipes and require pipe repair services. When washing off a clay mask, therefore, it can help to use a paper towel to wipe off as much of it as possible, and use a wire mesh drain cover to catch the larger particles before they flush away.
Flushable Wipes
Despite their name and advertising, flushable wipes are not flushable. These products are biodegradable for the most part, but they are also meant to be absorbent. Because they don’t break apart in water the way toilet paper does, these are easily caught in the bends of your pipes and can create clogs. While they will eventually break down, it takes a long time and your pipes will be clogged long before then, leading to severe damage to your plumbing system. Instead of flushing, it’s best to throw them away in the trash just like any other wipe.
Goldfish
You’re probably familiar with scenes from various TV shows and films in which the characters want to return their beloved pets to their natural environments via a toilet or drain. While that sort of thing makes for a good story, it is harmful to the environment to do this in reality. Goldfish that you send down the drain often go to bodies or water or ecosystems that didn’t have them previously. The introduction of a new species can unbalance that environment in a big way and wreak havoc on the established members of that system. Even putting deceased fish down the drain can be harmful if they carry unknown diseases with them. There have been many instances, as well, where the fish wasn’t entirely dead and later revived once making it to larger bodies of water. When without a contained space to live, goldfish grow to be enormous and pose a serious threat as an unfamiliar predator to native species.
Your household drains will always be a great way to dispose of certain waste materials quickly and effectively. However, you can save money and do some good things for the environment when you know what types of things you should never send on a trip down the porcelain lane.
