The City’s wastewater system brings wastewater to the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it is treated to remove contaminants before being discharged to the environment. Wastewater treatment plants can remove most contaminants from water, but they can’t remove everything. In order to prevent water pollution and damage to the Wastewater Treatment Plant and City wastewater system, it’s essential that we keep harmful items out of the wastewater. 

Think Before You Flush (PDF)
Think Before You Flush Info for Tenants (PDF)

Fats, Oils and Grease 

Even though they may seem like liquids, when you pour fats, oils and grease down the drain, they quickly solidify and build up on the walls of wastewater pipes. They can eventually block the plumbing, leading to sewer backups in homes, onto streets and into local waterways. Clogged wastewater lines can also lead to expensive (and smelly!) plumbing work for you and the City. Pouring hot water or soap down the drain will not help - it can only break up the grease temporarily.

How to Properly Handle Fats, Oils and Grease 
Soak up small amounts of cool, hardened fats, oils and grease with paper towels and place in the organics bin. While it is not a hazardous waste item, you can bring liquid fats, oils and grease and recycle them for free at the hazardous waste drop-off at the Yolo County Landfill, every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Never pour fats, oils and grease down the drain or flush them down a toilet. 

Toilets Are Not Trash Cans

The toilet is not a trash can. Please only flush toilet paper and put trash in the trash can.  

Flushing wipes and other products can clog your home plumbing, causing sewage backups into your home and expensive repairs to unclog your pipes. Flushing these products can also harm wastewater treatment systems, clogging equipment and leading to environmental damage and higher wastewater rates. Just a small amount of household waste flushed down the toilet (or dumped down the drain or garbage disposal) can pollute our rivers, clog pipes and cause expensive and messy sewer backups in your home and our City.

State law requires non-flushable wipes to be labeled “Do Not Flush.” However, regardless of what the packaging may say, wipes do not break down in water as quickly as toilet paper, causing havoc on your septic or sewer system.  The toilet is not a trash can, so place wipes where they belong--in a real trash can.

Protect your pipes! Never flush wipes, feminine hygiene products, dental floss, cotton swabs, or anything other than the 3 Ps: Pee, Poop & Toilet Paper.

What to do if you have a sewer back-up

Think Before You Flush (PDF)
Think Before You Flush Info for Tenants (PDF)

Garbage Disposals

While your garbage disposal may be able to handle food scraps, wastewater pipes are not made to handle them. Wastewater systems are designed to handle mostly liquids, with only small amounts of solids. With people getting so good at water conservation in their homes, there is often less water going down the drains. Lower volumes of water from conservation and increased solids from garbage disposals can lead to clogged wastewater pipes, both in your home, and in the City’s wastewater system. 

Instead of sending food scraps down the garbage disposal, place them all in your organics cart so they can be turned into nutrient-rich compost for local farmers.  Be sure to scrape food off dishes before washing them. Place the food in your organics cart. Consider using a drain screen in your sink to catch any bits of food that could be missed as you wash dishes.

Think Before You Flush (PDF)
Think Before You Flush Info for Tenants (PDF)
More information on organics collection

Keep Medications and Hazardous Wastes Out of Drains 

Unused or expired prescription medications should not be flushed or poured down the drain! Help keep drugs out of the wastewater system and the environment by disposing of them properly. 

Wastewater treatment plants clean water that goes down the sink, but they are not designed to remove medications and certain chemicals from water. As such, when medications, pesticides and other household chemicals are poured down a drain, they can end up in the environment. There are local places to properly dispose of these items in a way that protects human health and the environment, please see our Hazardous waste page for details.

Consider choosing less toxic and safer cleaning products and detergents for your home. Visit CleanGredients.org to choose a safer alternative.

Tub and Shower Drains

Tub and shower drains can get clogged by hair. Hair will catch and stick to other items and it’s very difficult to get out of the pipes once it gets in. Keep hair from going into the pipes by using a fine drain screen to catch hair in your bathtub and shower and dispose of it in the organics cart (yes, hair is compostable!).