BRAZORIA, Texas -- Local public works departments are seeing an unusual number of clogs in their sewer drains.
It is posing a risk to health and costing a lot to clean.
Jimmy Clark learned all about backups when the toilet in his house in Brazoria stopped flushing.
"I'm aware of it," he said. "Believe me!"
Turns out, the problem was not coming from him but his neighbors.
If you flipped any one of the manhole covers on their street, you would see things that just should not be there.
"The wipes, grease, feminine products," said David Jordan with Brazoria Public Works.
They are items which should never be flushed and which are now wasting time and money.
"We have pulled T-shirts out of pumps," said Derrell Travis with Brazoria Public Works.
Officials in Brazoria said it has become so bad that they are now spending nearly $40,000 a year to remove and dispose of things that just should not be beneath the city's 1400 manholes. They say that money could be saved if residents only chose a trash can over a toilet.
In nearby Freeport, they are now visiting restaurants to talk about grease as part of a new public awareness campaign.
"Everybody can do their part by contributing and doing preventative measures to assist," said Freeport's Assistant City Manager, Gilbert Arispe.
They hope people think twice the next time they flush.
