ACTION: Start a movement. Join your voices and #RespectTheFlush

Give your drain the acclaim it deserves.

Every time you flush a toilet, drain your sink, or pass a manhole cover along the curb, amazing unseen things are happening that protect public health and the environment. What can you do to show you #RespectTheFlush?

To raise awareness of the value of our water resources, the Value of Water Coalition imagines a Day Without Water October 6-8 across the country. To complement that, one can not overlook the importance of the gray and green systems in place protecting them.

How do you Respect The Flush? Here are 5 simple ideas.

Tweet #RespectTheFlush

Don't flush wipes.
Disposable wipes are convenient, but they wreak havoc on sewer systems and damage equipment in treatment plants. Throw your baby wipes in the garbage instead of flushing them. And while you're at it, the same goes for the rest of the things on this list.

POTUS: 3 videos to celebrate President Obama's 54th birthday

What better way to commemorate President Barack Obama's 54th birthday today than with his three public service announcements that advocate clean water. Share accordingly.

VIDEO: 3 water messages you won't hear from @BarackObama at @TheCityClub but should.

It's another amazing Cleveland day as President Barack Obama will be speaking at the City Club later this afternoon.

But it's unlikely he'll talk about his dog Bo's poop.

No worries! Since he's in Cleveland, we asked him* for his official polices on three key platforms. Here's what he had to say.

Obama says #DontFlushWipes



Obama says #DogsCantFlush



Obama says #PitchThosePills



Thanks to our own Wastewater Plant Operator Ryan Melton for his talents. Nice suit, too.

HISTORY: Thank you, Seth Wheeler, inventor of the perforated toilet-paper roll

Image credit Neptuul via wikipedia

Because we know you've been wondering, it was all Seth's idea.

The concept of rolled and perforated squares of toilet paper was patented in 1883 by Seth Wheeler.

Prior to Seth's innovation, toilet paper was sold commercially as flat sheets starting around 1857 thanks to Joseph Gayetty.

TP is a convenience many Americans take for granted—69% of Americans, according to Toilet Paper World—and much news has been made recently of the incredible shrinking rolls as companies have begun reducing the size of its squares without adjusting their prices.

The annual sales of disposable wipes have surged to a $6 billion industry in recent years, and the problems they have caused to sewer systems has grown as well. That's because disposable wipes should be thrown away rather than flushed: Wipes do not break down in plumbing and sewer systems as toilet paper does.

Much like Seth's invention, wastewater treatment is often taken for granted. And from an agency that treats 90 billion gallons of wastewater every year, we know that both conveniences deserve a tip of the lid every so often.

LIST: Flush or fiction? 5 of our favorite toilet bowl myths and legends

Handy wipes are flushable: False.

They may say flushable on the package. They are common in bathrooms across the country. But because disposable wipes don't break down in the sewer system like toilet paper does, they can clog a home's plumbing and cause major issues in city treatment systems. Throw wipes in the trash rather than the toilet.

A city sewer system failed when the flow surged beyond capacity during a Super Bowl halftime show: False.

It's a legend that resurfaces every January as teams vie for the big game, but legend is all it is. Green Bay Metro Sewer District said even under the most extreme restroom-rush conditions, the likelihood of a major metropolitan sewer system being unable to handle the flow is slim to none.

Toilet water can splash onto your toothbrush: True.

The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters team proved aerosol droplets released from a flushing toilet can be shown to affect surfaces in restrooms. But the test also showed the reaches to which fecal bacteria can be found all throughout the house, something we're well aware of.

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• TECH: How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?
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• HISTORY: What were bathrooms like in 1776?
• TIPS: 15 things you shouldn't flush (but probably do)

The rotation of the earth changes the direction water flows around a toilet bowl: False.

Does the direction of a toilet bowl's spinning water change depending on the hemisphere you're in? No. The earth's rotation does cause something known as the Coriolis effect, but the force of a flushing drain is, as How Stuff Works explains, "much too great to be influenced by something as miniscule as a single, 360-degree turn over the span of a day."

You should flush old or outdated medications down the toilet rather than just throwing them away: False.

Flushing pharmaceutical products is harmful to our water resources. Wastewater treatment plants are unable to remove these medications from the sewage, which means they end up in our waterways. It's best to drop old and unused medications in safe disposal locations and community collection events so they can be disposed of properly.

PIC: And now, just your average sewer blockage longer than a Boeing 747.

Next time you consider flushing wipes or washing cooking grease down your drain, consider you might be contributing to a Boeing 747-size sewer blockage under your city.

It happened in the UK where Thames Water recently spent four days clearing a 262-foot blockage of fat, grease, and disposable wipes from a local sewer. That's more than 20 feet longer than an average Boeing 747 jet.

Our maintenance crews have seen crazy stuff, but never anything close to a mass of this magnitude. Still, the key contributing factors—disposable wipes and cooking grease—are among our top 15 items you shouldn't flush. Just because it can fit down your drain doesn't mean it belongs there.

We say, "Don't use your toilet as a garbage can." In London, they say, "Bin it, don't block it." Even across the pond, sewer smarts are a universal language.

TIPS: Your bowl is not super. #FlushResponsibly

One brew company estimated 50 million cases of beer are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday, resulting in 1.4 billion trips to the bathroom.

With that many potty breaks, chances are that there's more being flushed down the toilets than fluids and good ol' TP.

We hope everyone celebrates today's football festivities responsibly, and we also encourage you to flush responsibly: That means not using your toilet as a trash can.

Garbage like napkins, paper towels, disposable wipes, wrappers and so much more can cause plumbing problems and even wreak havoc farther down the line in community sewers. Dispose of trash in the can and help save sewers and your own drains from potential problems.

WEIRD: Sewer clogged by a pile of undergarments [facepalm here]

One of the most common sewer clogs in many cities sewer systems recently has been disposable wipes. They don't play nice with your plumbing many wastewater treatment systems.

Neither do underpants.

Yes, true story—this one out of the UK—Severn Trent Water reports that a sewer in the town of Shropshire was clogged and causing backups, until crews discovered and removed the culprit: "piles of pants that had been flushed down a toilet, somewhere nearby."

WIPES: Yep, still not flushable. Keep wipes out of pipes, Consumer Reports confirms

It's a headline we've been seeing for some time, but it's a tip worth sharing again: Flushable wipes really aren't flushable, and if you flush them you could be asking for plumbing problems.

This time, it's a story from WLS-TV out of Chicago.



RELATED: 15 things you shouldn't flush

RELATED: Quick and simple tip to help protect your plumbing if entertaining on New Year's Eve

TIPS: 15 things you shouldn't flush

Just because it can fit in your toilet doesn't mean it's flushable.

VIDEO: Uh, "President" says #DontFlushWipes

Flushable wipes are in the news lately, but they are just one of many items that can cause plumbing problems, or even larger wastewater treatment issues in many cities.

Whether at your own home or at a public restroom, you might want to keep this list in mind: Here are 15 items most commonly discarded in toilets that shouldn't be. They may cause problems in home plumbing systems, on your property, in the miles of sewer underground, or all the way at a treatment plant. It's best to pitch all of these items in the garbage.

 

RELATED STORIES:

•  #FlushResponsibly: With a Great Lake comes great responsibility. #FlushResponsibly.
•  NEWS: Consumer Reports confirms flushable wipes still aren't flushable
•  FLUSH OR FICTION? Top 5 toilet-related myths and legends
• #PitchThosePills: Why you should not flush old medications (and how to get rid of them the right way)

NEWS: Wipes in the pipes? Not a good idea, and it's national news.

That's the story that ran in USA Today this week, featuring cities' sewer issues being caused by an increasing number of so-called "flushable" disinfecting wipes clogging wastewater-treatment systems.

From the story:

The products appeal to consumers in part because of manufacturers' claims that they can be conveniently flushed down the toilet. But their cloth-like material doesn't break down in the sanitary sewer system like toilet paper and can block sewer lines, clog equipment and increase cities' maintenance and repair costs.

Public works managers say the problem has worsened in recent years because more such products are available on the market and consumer demand for antibacterial products is growing.

Companies such as Cottonelle and Charmin have heavily promoted bathroom wipes, while some cleaning product manufacturers have advertised sponges that can be disposed of in the toilet.