{"id":816,"date":"2020-04-30T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T19:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\/"},"modified":"2022-12-03T11:33:35","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T16:33:35","slug":"phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;@PhillyH2O\u00a0at\u00a0Home: TP vs. Wipes!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"callout mainblue-bg\">\n<p class=\"big white\"><strong>This post is part of our <em>@PhillyH2O\u00a0at\u00a0Home<\/em> series:<\/strong> <span class=\"inline-block\">fun at-home science<\/span> and learning activities from our Fairmount Water Works educators and other partners to help your family stay engaged with water\u00a0issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>What can you flush?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"big\">The point of this activity is to show that toilet paper is the only <strong><em>paper<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 or product that should be flushed down the toilet.<\/p>\n<p>Other types of paper and, and especially wipes, don\u2019t come apart. Some can clog pipes in your home or in the sewer under the street and create a real problem. We like to remind people only the \u201cThree <strong>P<\/strong>s\u201d should get flushed: \u201c<strong>P<\/strong>oop, <strong>P<\/strong>ee and Toilet <strong>P<\/strong>aper\u201d!<\/p>\n<p>More things that get flushed and cause problems include dental floss, paper towels, baby wipes, plastic, rubber gloves, cotton ear swabs&#8230;\u00a0and all sorts of things used in the bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>While it might be tempting to flush something gross, it is best to have a wastebasket by the toilet to help <strong>avoid flushing anything but toilet paper<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This activity is best suited for kids aged 5 to 14.<\/p>\n<h3>Watch: What Breaks Down?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/417618961\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h4>For this activity, you will need:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>1 or two sheets of clean toilet paper<\/li>\n<li>1 tissue<\/li>\n<li>1 small section of paper towel<\/li>\n<li>1 wet wipe (a baby wipe, hand wipe, or cleaning wipe &#8211; try one marked \u201cflushable\u201d if you have them!)<\/li>\n<li>A bowl of clean tap water<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Directions:<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>One by one, put the different types of paper in the water and take them apart with your fingers.<\/li>\n<li>Ask your kids:\n<ul class=\"top0\">\n<li>Which one comes apart <strong>most easily?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Which one <strong>doesn\u2019t come apart <\/strong>at all?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"side-info\">\n<p>Notice how the wipes are harder to pull apart, even after they get wet?<\/p>\n<p><strong>That<\/strong> is why we ask everyone to <strong>please never flush paper towels or any kind of wipes!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>What Happens to Wipes in Pipes<\/h3>\n<p>These items can clog the pipes in your house and under your sidewalk. They also get stuck in sewers and can collect fat and grease <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/what-fatberg-1361168\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">creating a very gross problem called <strong>fatbergs<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If they make it out of your home&#39;s pipes\u00a0and through the sewer, they even cause problems at the plants that treat your waste to protect our rivers.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of science went into making toilet paper special and easy to dissolve when wet, and that is why it is the only item that should be flushed beside your body\u2019s waste.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanks for experimenting with us!<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>More:<\/strong> See our <a class=\"semibold\" href=\"https:\/\/pwddev.wpengine.com\/blog\/covid-19-wipes-litter-clogging\">blog about the spike in flushed wipes problems<\/a> related to COVID-19, and check out the Fairmount Water Works <a class=\"semibold\" href=\"https:\/\/fairmountwaterworks.org\/blog\/2020\/04\/distance-learning\/\">Distance Learning Resources blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PWD educator Dottie Baumgarten shows what makes toilet paper the only thing to flush.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"custom_css":"","custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[32,36,48,53,85,93,99,103,104],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-infrastructure","tag-education","tag-fairmount-water-works","tag-home-plumbing","tag-kid-friendly","tag-sewer","tag-stem","tag-tips-and-how-to","tag-treatment-plant","tag-video","wpautop"],"acf":{"suggested":null},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/phila.gov\/blog\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"&#8216;@PhillyH2O\u00a0at\u00a0Home: TP vs. Wipes!","url":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":""},"articleSection":"Infrastructure","author":[],"creator":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"@PhillyH2O Blog","logo":""},"keywords":["education","fairmount water works","home plumbing","kid friendly","sewer","stem","tips and how-to","treatment plant","video"],"dateCreated":"2020-04-30T19:56:00Z","datePublished":"2020-04-30T19:56:00Z","dateModified":"2022-12-03T16:33:35Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"&#8216;@PhillyH2O\\u00a0at\\u00a0Home: TP vs. Wipes!\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/blog\\\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/water.phila.gov\\\/blog\\\/phillyh2o-at-home-tp-vs-wipes\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"\"},\"articleSection\":\"Infrastructure\",\"author\":[],\"creator\":[],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"@PhillyH2O Blog\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"education\",\"fairmount water works\",\"home plumbing\",\"kid friendly\",\"sewer\",\"stem\",\"tips and how-to\",\"treatment plant\",\"video\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2020-04-30T19:56:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-30T19:56:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-03T16:33:35Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/phila.gov\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/water.phila.gov\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}