NORWAY – Selectmen were told Thursday that if people don’t stop flushing wipes and other products down their toilets sewer rates could increase.

“In a very real sense, folks on the system are putting their rates up,” Town Manager David Holt told selectmen Thursday night. “Don’t put these wipes down the drain.”

Sewer department workers are removing 55 gallons each day of towelettes, feminine hygiene products and condoms that people flush down their toilets. The problem has caused more than three pumps to burn out, two in the past six months alone, costing the town thousands of dollars. Each pump costs about $2,800 and should last for years, according to Sewer Superintendent Shawn Brown.

Workers are cleaning the pumps at least three or more times a week, costing overtime pay and pump replacements. Pumps are generally cleaned once a year, Brown said.

Now officials say a second man may have to be hired to keep the pumps clean of materials that are clogging them.

One of the worse offenders is disposable wipes, Holt said. Officials have asked that baby wipes, bathroom wipes, moist wipes, toilet wipes, general purpose wipes, glass wipes and floor and furniture wipes not be flushed down the toilet even if the packaging says they can be.

“I’d like to think we can do better,” said Holt, who called the corporate headquarters of Pampers and spoke to a vice president to complain about the problem their advertising was causing by making people think the wipes are harmless to flush.

Holt told selectmen the vice president denied the possibility and then asked him how he could identify the wipes as being Pampers brand.

Holt told selectmen the offending wipes had the Pamper flower insignia on them, to which the vice president reportedly responded that other brands might use a flower too.

“This is a real headache. We need to do something about it,” Selectman Les Flanders said.