JEA has decided it’s time to get serious about all the not-OK stuff customers flush down their toilets with an education campaign.
One element of the Invasion of the Fatbergs campaign is a mock horror-comedy flick following Jacksonville’s battle with the “Fatberg invasion.”
While the video will no doubt make some smile and others squirm, the message behind the campaign is quite serious.
JEA customers are putting all sorts of things down toilets, which then congeal, ferment and run beneath our streets, turning into giant masses called fatbergs.
JEA’s point is if it continues, the problem will literally grow with every flush. While debris might make it through a toilet, it can ultimately end up breaking a sewer line.
“If it doesn’t come out of your body and isn’t toilet paper, then don’t flush it,” says JEA’s campaign, which also includes a billboard and emails to customers.
Among the problem items to avoid flushing down a toilet:
- Baby wipes or wet wipes of any kind
- Paper towels
- Dental floss
- Tampons & sanitary pads
- Clumping cat litter
- Diapers
- Oil-based hand scrubs
- Cotton swabs and cotton balls
- Medicine
- Rags
- Oil or grease and cooking fat
Learn more at The Invasion of the Fatbergs. And get a deeper look at the problem from our partner, The Florida Times-Union.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
