“Woohoo! I am so pumped up!” Joey screamed as he burst into the door. He had so much excitement because an MWRA employee had just come to his school for a visit, to tell all the boys and girls about why, and how the MWRA runs.

“What’s got you all pumped up?” Joey’s Mom asked sarcastically, as she had already known why he was so excited.

“Did you hear? An MWRA employee came to our school, and taught us so much! We learned all about how it operates and what it does, and, and…”

“Slow down crazy pants! Why don’t we go into the kitchen, and you can tell me about all the things that you learned at school today.” Joey could not contain his excitement, so he raced into the kitchen so fast, that he almost fell on his head, due to him not wearing his slippers! “Are you ready to tell me all about what you learned in school?”

“YES! YES YES!” Joey could not contain his excitement to tell his Mom everything he learned in school.

“So, one of the main topics we learned was what to flush, and what not to flush.”

“Ohh! How Exciting!”

“Now you may find this surprising, but it was actually not okay to flush paper towels down toilets! Now you may be surprised, but let me explain. Paper towels and other non-flushable items, because they cannot be broken down by the water, so sewer guck sticks to it. These balls can cause problems because they can clog up sewers, and cause overflows in your home!”

“Yuck! I will never flush paper towels down the toilet ever again.” Joey’s mom said.

“But that’s not all!” Joey said with a smile on his face. “Believe it or not those “flushable” baby wipes are not actually flushable, and can cause sewers to clog, and toilets to overflow, just like paper towels. But even worse, they can cause permanent damage to your toilet, and that can cost a lot of money to be taken care of!”

“But how do these companies not get in trouble for false advertisement?”

“They do not get into trouble, because most people do not realize that they are not actually flushable,” Joey said with an annoyed tone.

“But there is more! Flushing medical substances, like pills, or liquids, can be harmful to aquatic life and should be wrapped up, and thrown into the trash, or brought to your local drug take-back site, or disposed of with your health care facility’s guidelines.”

“Wow! I had no idea that there were so many things that I could not flush!” Said Mom with enthusiasm. “From now on, I will never flush any of those things again! And, we have relatives coming over soon, so you can tell them about all the things you learned at school!”

“Awesome! I can’t wait!

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