Richmond city council was reduced to toilet talk on Monday, but Coun. Alexa Loo was concerned not everyone living in the city would understand the importance of the conversation.
Loo contends — having recently visited Minoru Aquatic Centre — that more Chinese signage should be placed in public washrooms to indicate the problems caused by flushing sanitary wipes down the toilet.
“I saw the signs up clearly in the bathroom but they seem to only be in English. I’m wondering if we could put some in Chinese,” said Loo at a council meeting on Monday.
She said it was evident that many ethnic Chinese pool users were not speaking English, thus the beneficial signage to mitigate a growing problem in Metro Vancouver’s sewer system appeared to be unknown to them.
Loo asked city staff to inquire about installing Chinese signs (the English signs were installed by Metro Vancouver).
“That’s obviously a valid point for us,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie.
Presently, Metro Vancouver has an ongoing campaign to advise the public about the problems of sanitary wipes — commonly used by parents during diaper changes — being flushed down the toilet.
Wipes do not break down, as toilet paper does. As the wipes travel through the sewer system they can clog the pipes, causing messy and expensive backups.
Brodie said a major concern of his is the fact that many wipe companies advertise their products as being flushable.
“It has become a real problem in the sewer system, people throwing them out thinking they’re biodegradable. They cause a real mess, a real jam,” noted Brodie.
According to Metro Vancouver, cities around the world are working to develop an international standard to more accurately label whether or not products are truly flushable.
