Don’t flush holiday present money down the drain: Follow these tips to stay on your plumber’s ‘nice’ list

Make sure your plans don’t get backed up! Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department offers suggestions

The holiday season is in full swing and time is of the essence to find the perfect tree, send out greeting cards and decorate your home.

One thing no one has any time for is a sewer backup in your home. Remember that Santa only makes house calls once a year -- and it’s not to unclog your pipes.

So, how do you stay on your plumber’s “nice” list? One piece of advice Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) staffers had was to make sure grease is canned when you’re cooking.

Hot oil eventually cools, and when it does, it can block your sewer pipe, resulting in a costly clog. You don’t have to be Ebenezer Scrooge not to want to pay for an emergency plumber during the holidays. Always pour the grease into a can, let it cool and throw it away in the garbage.

Another important piece of advice, when you are making your family’s favorite holiday dishes, is to make sure you throw away all the peels, eggshells, etc., in the trash instead of down the sink, even if you have a garbage disposal.

Out of sight is not out of mind. When cleaning up after your meal, make sure to also scrape the scraps and leftovers in the garbage. Food products can cause backups.

Clogs can be caused outside of the kitchen, as well. If WASD had one holiday wish, it would be for customers to no longer put wipes in our pipes.

Whether they are makeup, diaper or cleaning wipes, they should always be thrown in the trash -- regardless of how they’re marked. Your toilet is not a trash can.

In 2019, staffers repaired 604 clogs throughout the department’s more than 6,400 miles of sewer lines at a cost of $483,200 -- and that was caused by items that shouldn’t have been disposed of down drains or flushed down toilets at all.

When you add in the costs to eliminate clogs at the pump stations and treatment plants, that totals to an annual clog cost of $3.4 million.

If we all made some small changes in our habits, it would make for some truly significant results, not only during the holidays, but year-round.

For a list of items that shouldn’t be washed down the sink or flushed down the toilet, as well as a Can the Grease Video, check out WASD’s Think Before You Flush page.