MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake’s city government is asking residents to think before they flush, after seeing a recent increase in non-flushable items causing blockages and pump failures in the city’s wastewater system.

It’s no small problem, the city wrote in a public service announcement. One hundred pounds per day of non-flushable items, or 36,500 pounds per year, are removed from wastewater screens in an average year, according to city officials. Those items cause 130 plugs in water pumps per year. Each plugged pump requires about an hour of labor from wastewater crews at city expense to unplug.

This year, crews have already cleaned approximately 9,244 feet of sewer line and inspected an additional 2,580 feet with video equipment to locate blockages, according to the city.

There are only a few things that can be flushed inside city limits, including human waste, toilet paper and wipes labeled as “flushable,” the city wrote. Meanwhile, most disposable wipes, contraceptives, sanitary products, fats, oils and grease, among other things, can cause significant damage to the system.

Often during inspections, which the city conducts with a closed-circuit TV that deploys a remote-control camera to inspect sewer lines, the most readily identified items causing blockages are buildups of fats, oils and grease, and paper or wipes that haven’t yet broken down, according to the city.

Fats, oils and grease can also disrupt the biological treatment processes at the city’s wastewater treatment plants.

“The City of Moses Lake Wastewater Division sincerely appreciates your consideration in keeping our wastewater system working smoothly,” the city wrote in a statement.