To schedule a virtual lesson, please contact Ben Lavender at blavender@centralsan.org or (925)-335-7723.

 

Introduction

This lesson was crafted to help students understand why some solids are designed to go down the drain and others are not.

The goal of every Central San lesson is to help students think more critically about “what happens to our dirty water after it goes down the drain?”

Students can do this lesson themselves at home with the help of a grown up.

Or a teacher can schedule a virtual lesson for their students with one of our educators. In that case, read our Materials Page so everyone can get ready for our lesson!

 

Want Some Wipes Videos?

Our kids version of Wipes Clog Pipes helps students of all ages understand what happens to our wipes after they go down the drain.

Our Wipes Fail Flushable Test shows our field testing of 13 different brands of wipes flushed down a 3,000-foot section of sewer pipe. Our results demonstrate that no matter what the label says, wipes clog pipes.

Our Wipes Clog Pipes Commercial is a quick and fun reminder of just how silly it is to flush wipes down the drain.

 

What Some Wipes Data?

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Control Board released Sewer Data compiling sewer overflows from all across the Bay Area that were caused by wipes (non-toilet paper). This data compared the month of March every year starting in 2011, all the way up to 2020.

In March of 2020, a few notable things happened:

1. The Bay Area Shelter In Place order went into effect. Which meant that everyone was home all day, every day.

2. People were regularly cleaning surfaces with wipes, tissues, paper towels and other kinds of Non-Toilet Paper. 

3. Toilet Paper was very difficult to find in stores.

With all of the happening, What Do YOU Think might have happened to all the Non-Toilet Paper that people were using? What might that mean for sewer data from March 2020, especially when compared to past years?

 

Want To Check Out Our Audio Project?

We asked students of all ages to record a 20-second audio clip and send it to us after they had done our lesson. Their audio clips answered the following question: 

“The next time I use a (tissue, paper towel, napkin, wipe, or other piece of non-toilet paper) I’m going to put it in the__________because___________”

Have a listen and hear what the students had to say!