Morgan Bartley, maintenance technician with the city of Keene, cleans a rag ball, smaller than the one on the ground next to him, out of a pump at the Keene wastewater pump station Wednesday morning. Workers routinely clean rags — fibrous materials, such as wipes, that accumulate and clog plumbing — from the pumps. Hannah Schroeder / Keene Sentinel

Morgan Bartley cleans a rag ball out of a pump at the Keene wastewater pump station Wednesday morning. Hannah Schroeder—Keene Sentinel

A rag ball has gummed up a pump at the Keene wastewater pump station, as seen Wednesday morning. Hannah Schroeder—Keene Sentinel

Screening equipment, not fully assembled, at the Keene wastewater pump station Wednesday morning. This equipment will work like a conveyor with screens, not shown, to help clear fibrous materials that don’t break down and clog plumbing, to prevent blockages. Hannah Schroeder—Keene Sentinel

Morgan Bartley cleans a rag ball out of a pump at the Keene wastewater pump station Wednesday morning. Hannah Schroeder—Keene Sentinel

Along with lofty issues facing residents of the Granite State, New Hampshire senators also try to solve more down-to-earth matters, such as preventing wet wipes from clogging sewer systems.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee waded into that messy problem on Tuesday, ultimately supporting a bill to establish a committee to study proper labeling and disposal of these wipes.

Some are marketed as flushable and some aren’t, but they all should be thrown in the trash to avoid gumming up toilets and sewer works, said Aaron Costa, Keene’s operations manager of drinking water and wastewater facilities.

A prime example of the taxpayer expense these products can lead to is a $1.3 million city-funded project underway at the wastewater pump station on Martell Court.

Equipment is being retrofitted to add a system of screens to capture wipes and other things that don’t readily degrade. A mechanical arm will scrape material off the screens for disposal in a landfill.

Costa said only three things should be flushed: “pee, poop and [toilet] paper.”

“Toilet paper is specifically engineered to break down within 15 seconds of getting wet, whereas wipes will not break down,” he said.

Wipes have become ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the problem of these and other improper materials in the sewer system is longstanding and predates the health crisis, Costa said.

In addition to studying proper labeling and disposal, the committee to be established under House Bill 1134 would work on an educational campaign to inform people not to flush these wipes.

There is also legislation pending nationally. On March 30, U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced a bill to improve labeling on wipes to help keep them out of toilets.

At the committee hearing in Concord this week, Rep. Dennis Thompson, R-Stewartstown — a licensed septic installer for 40 years — provided a demonstration with a wipe he had earlier removed from a tube kept in the committee room to sanitize microphones.

He stretched the wipe between his two fists and snapped it back and forth vigorously.

“As you can see, they don’t break up,” Thompson said. “What they do do is they knot up and they knot up with other wipes.”

He presented photos showing wipes clogging a sewer system.

“These pictures came from Plymouth, N.H., a college town, where every young lady wipes her makeup off at night with a so-called flushable wipe and probably flushes it down the toilet,” Thompson said.

He recommended signage be placed in public restrooms, particularly at colleges, telling people not to flush wipes.

“All the cities with a college in them currently are the cities that are having a problem,” Thompson said.

Ray Gordon, a facility administrator with the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, tore up a sheet of toilet paper before the Senate committee.

“The system is designed for toilet paper,” he said, reducing the sheet to tiny bits. “Forty years ago, that’s all they had. It would go down the drain and get to the treatment plant.

“In time, many products have been developed, and this is the most interesting,” Gordon said, putting a disposable white-mitten moist wipe on his right hand. “They’ve actually found this causing a problem in the sewers of Nashua.”

He said some companies voluntarily label which products are flushable and which are not, and some states, such as Washington, Oregon and Illinois, have passed mandatory labeling laws.

Renee Pelletier, director of the water pollution division at DES, said he is concerned about the health and well-being of workers who must get into the sewage system.

Grinders are used to chop up this material, but sometimes the grinders get clogged, too.

“If you saw the conditions that are required to clean up these grinders and the clogs, it’s not good,” he said. “It’s a tough business to be in, and it’s a unique person that is willing to do this.”

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