Sean Montgomery
Grade 4, A.T. Cummings School, Winthrop
Dawn Letterie, Teacher
Don't Flush That!
Have you ever seen a package of wipes that says they are flushable? Have you ever flushed down wrappers? Or cotton balls? Or toys? Well none of that is flushable! Only toilet paper is supposed to be flushed.
Almost every kid has flushed stuff down the toilet wondering what will happen after you push the handle down. It is not a good thing. There are many reasons why you shouldn't flush random things down the toilet.
One reason you should not flush something aside from toilet paper is that it can clog up your pipes. If your pipes do not get clogged, whenever you flush something down the toilet it goes straight to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). All of the wastewater has a big journey.
First what is flushed goes through the Primary Sedimentation. Then it goes through the Secondary Reactions. Next that flush travels past the Secondary Sedimentation. Finally it gets sent out to the Massachusetts Bay. All of the garbage that you were not supposed to flush gets scooped up along the way and goes into a landfill.
You may be wondering "Why is toilet paper ok to flush?"
Well when you flush toilet paper it dissolves after flushing. But even the wipes that say they are flushable don't dissolve after you flush them.
If those are not reasons enough, the main reason that you shouldn't flush things down the toilet is because you waste about 1.6 gallons of water per flush. What you should be doing is throwing away or recycling trash without wasting water with a flush.
Flushing isn't something that you do because you are too lazy to go to the wastebasket. To help save water and to help the environment, remember the saying "Don't flush that!"
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