What NOT to put down the drain
What NOT to put down your drain:
Cooking fat, oil, and grease (wipe pans and scrape plates into the trash/compost instead)
Used cooking oil
Wipes, even the ones labeled “flushable “
Medications (use a local drop box instead)
Remember the three Ps for toilets: pee, poo, paper.
Everything else goes in the trash.
Every drain leads somewhere. Let's keep our creeks clean.
The big picture right now:
Right now, drought makes it worse. Low creeks mean less dilution, so spills hit harder and pollutants stay concentrated. Also, wastewater plants keep discharging the same volume no matter how low the river gets. In dry stretches, effluent becomes a bigger share of the flow.
Less rain doesn't mean less pollution; it means less dilution.
Why we highlight this?
5,400 gallons of untreated wastewater reached a Chapel Hill creek after grease built up and blocked a sewer line near Eastowne Drive. OWASA (Orange Water and Sewer Authority) crews responded fast & stopped the flow in 36 mins, but the damage was already done by the time they arrived. During a drought, this damage is compounded by lack of dilution.
This kind of overflow is preventable. Remember, for toilets: PEE, POO and PAPER only. In the kitchen, fats, oils, and grease harden inside pipes over time, the same way they would in your arteries, until the line can't handle the flow anymore. When it backs up, it goes somewhere, and that somewhere is often a creek.
Source: Chapelboro.com, "Wastewater Overflow Releases 5,400 Gallons into Chapel Hill Tributary, OWASA Says"
Just a little while later? Another SSO in Hillsborough. https://chapelboro.com/news/health/more-than-38000-gallons-of-untreated-sewage-spills-into-unnamed-hillsborough-creek
