Aqua Reminds Customers to Help Keep Wastewater Lines Clear With Proper Disposal of Fat, Oil and Grease This Holiday Season

BRYN MAWR, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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.

About Aqua

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.

Aqua is part of Essential Utilities, one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater and natural gas providers in the U.S., serving approximately 5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and Peoples brands. Essential is committed to excellence in proactive infrastructure investment, regulatory expertise, operational efficiency and environmental stewardship. The company recognizes the importance water and natural gas play in everyday life and is proud to deliver safe, reliable services that contribute to the quality of life in the communities it serves. For more information, visit http://www.essential.co.

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