Wipes clog pipes — use the trash, not the toilet

Many household cleaning products are labeled and marketed as "disposable" but that doesn't mean you should flush them down the toilet. Disinfecting wipes, baby wipes, mop refills, paper towels, towelettes and other cleaning supplies don't dissolve. They clog pipes and cause expensive and time consuming repairs for homeowners. These products also get tangled up and stuck in public sewer pipes and pump station equipment leading to sewer backups. Save yourself and your wastewater utility from a pain in the drain; put wipes, rags and towels in the trash, not the toilet.

Hats off to River Ranger graduates

During the 2007-08 school year, over 4,000 students from nearly 50 different schools in the Tualatin Basin learned about the Tualatin River watershed, pollution prevention, fish habitat and wastewater treatment. Just because school is out doesn't mean you can't learn about River Rangers and how to protect our watershed. Look for information on our website or at community events like the Washington County Fair and the Tualatin Crawfish Festival.

Short and sweep

Have you seen our smaller street sweepers in your neighborhood lately? Clean Water Services' fleet of street sweepers has recently "downsized." Besides being more fuel efficient and quieter, the new, smaller street sweepers can fit better into narrow streets in new high density infill developments around Washington County. According to Field Construction and Maintenance Supervisor Steve Keenon, "The new sweepers fit into places the older models couldn't. Now we are getting more debris from places we couldn't get to before." Street sweeping protects local waterways by keeping pollutants off of streets and out of storm drains and helps prevent drainage and flooding issues.