Aqua reminds customers that they play a role in ensuring their local wastewater system operates properly, from the pipes that run from their homes and businesses to the treatment plant itself. This holiday season, Aqua offers customers the following tips for the proper disposal of fat, oil, and grease:

• Never pour cooking grease down sink drains or into toilets.
• If homeowners have leftover cooking grease, carefully pour the warm, not hot, grease into a metal can, wait for it to cool, and dispose of it in the trash.
• Keep strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids.
• Scrape food scraps and grease into a trash can.

Garbage disposals do not keep fat, oil, and grease out of plumbing systems or prevent clogs. While these items go down the drain as liquids, they solidify and, over time, can completely block pipes and cause raw sewage backups in homes and overflows in streets.

Aqua also reminds customers to dispose of wipes, even those labeled flushable, in the trash instead of flushing them. Wipes, tissues, and napkins don’t break down and can cause backups in household plumbing and larger blockages in wastewater collection systems.

Aqua’s water and wastewater utilities serve more than 3 million people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, New Jersey, Indiana, and Virginia. Visit Aqua online at AquaAmerica.com, facebook.com/MyAquaAmerica, and twitter.com/MyAquaAmerica.