Important Potty Talk

More than three years ago, we wrote an editorial reminding Dayton residents to watch what they flush down the toilet or the kitchen sink.

The crew at the waste water treatment plant had a problem keeping out items that do not decompose or are toxic enough to make the fish in the Touchet River sick.

The facility on the edge of town that processes sanitary waste can handle organic matter that it breaks down with bacteria that eat it. It's a lot like a septic system that way. But when it comes to items such as diapers, tampons, applicators, condoms, bread sacks, bandage wrappers, toy soldiers, ear swabs, cigarette butts, underwear, golf balls and baseballs, it's a different matter - not to mention toxic substances such as fuels, paint, stripper and other solvents. Even kitchen waste such as food scraps or cooking grease is bad.

All that stuff will either block and slow the treatment process or kill those friendly critters that consume the waste. At the time of our editorial in March 2010, there had been way more of the banned waste than the facility should have to handle.

It's still true today and this update should serve as a re- minder that the sewer system and treatment plant are akin to the human body: you don't want to load it up with junk.

This week, however, the reminder also serves a different purpose. We're asking Dayton residents to quit flushing junk down the can because it can cause another nasty problem: sewer backups that may spill into your basement, your neigh- bor's basement or homes down your street.

Here's the reason it's been in the news: we're reporting on last week's ruling by Judge William Acey on page x. The judge found the City of Dayton did not respond quickly enough to a problem in the main sewer line under East Patit, where backups occurred at two residences in early October 2010.

Our story this week looks at the state of Dayton's sewer system and asks the question whether the city has a fundamental problem with its sanitation infrastructure.

The plaintiffs in the case, the Becker family that owns one of the affected homes and their Waitsburg attorney Mike Hubbard, took the city to task over its maintenance regime, saying there's a pattern of negligence. The judge did not agree with their general allegation.

We believe that given its budget limitations and staffing, the city does what it can to keep the affluent from getting jammed in the lines, some of which have bellies where debris builds up regularly, according to a 2007 engineering study.

The same study by Anderson Perry of Walla Walla found that the overall condition of Dayton's sewer system is good, but recommended regular flushing of the entire system in general and the trouble spots in particular.

The judge found the city has "an informal policy of try- ing to flush the lines annually" instead of a written policy for inspecting and preforming preventative maintenance.

Whatever policy the city creates or sustains from here on out, formal or informal, it should be flexible enough to clear those trouble spots and other areas that cause problems because of the system's somewhat unpredictable nature.

And, the city has to vigilantly maintain reliable emer- gency coverage on weekends, which is when the Becker incident happened.

But we also feel there's a lot Daytonites can do to help, or rather "not do" as mentioned above. One of the biggest culprits for the sewer treatment plant itself is toxic substances such as motor oil and paint. For the lines leading to the plant, one of the biggest problems is kitchen grease.

It's tempting to think of cooking fat and oils as organic matter that one can flush down the drain. But the stuff acts like glue after it goes from being heated by warm sink water and cools down in the sewer main as it traps all sorts of other debris that may or may not supposed to be down there.

Think of the grease as cement and the other solids as bricks. Put the two together and pretty soon you have a wall that slows or stops the flow and reverses its direction, pos- sibly into your own basement.