Mayor makes statement about Dude Wipes

Mayor Rue Rogers read a letter from Dude Products at the Nov. 20 City Council meeting: “The purpose of this letter is to correct and clarify certain public comments made by an Olney city employee at an Olney City Council meeting in late April or early May. During that meeting, an employee from the Olney Public Works Department made comments at a City Council meeting regarding the City’s problem with increased clogs in the city sewer system which are believed to be attributed to residents flushing disposable wipes.

The employee cautioned residents to please refrain from flushing wipes even if they are advertised as flushable. During these comments, the employee mentioned name brand products, such as Dude Wipes and others. On May 4th, the Olney Enterprise newspaper reported on these comments with the headline, “Dude Wipes Clog Sewer System” and stated that Dude Wipes are not flushable no matter what the maker says.

In fact, the City of Olney has at present no way to determine which products have caused the increased clogs in the sewer system. Further, the city has been provided information from the Dude Products Company, seller of Dude Wipes, which indicates that Dude Wipes are flushable by national standards and that they should not cause any clogs in our system.

While it is true that the City’s Public Works Department has experienced increasing clogs which are believed to be caused by wipes generally, the Public Works Department wishes to clarify that the City does not know which particular products or brands are to blame.

However, Olney’s sewer pipes are old and may require even more caution than in locations with newer pipes. Accordingly, without placing any blame on any particular product or brand out of abundance of caution, the city’s Public Works Department simply asks for residents of Olney not to flush anything other than waste and toilet paper and certainly under no circumstances whatsoever flush anything that is not flushable, such as baby wipes, feminine hygiene products, paper towels and the like.

Thank you.