Think Before You Flush: Helping Prevent Sewer Backups

Yerington NV – August 17, 2026

Hi everyone, this is Jerry Bryant with the City of Yerington.

We had a significant sewer backup last Friday in one of our neighborhoods and I wanted to share some information about how this happens and tips to avoid it in the future.

If you’re on city sewer, your neighborhood is serviced by a sewer pipe typically 8″ wide. Every home in your neighborhood feeds to this main pipe which then runs the sewage out of your neighborhood and connects to a larger main that runs it to the treatment plant.

Over time, accumulation of flushable wipes, hygiene products and other large items (such as blue shop towels), can build up and block the sewage in your neighborhood. When this happens, it blocks the sewage for every house “down stream.”

These “flushable” items may break down over time, but they don’t generally break down fast enough to avoid blockage in your neighborhood. Whenever possible, please avoid flushing these items.

Our crew from Public Works jumped into action and was able to remedy the situation. I just wanted to bring it to your attention so that we can try to avoid it in the future. The images attached to this post just show some of the “chunks” that were pulled out to clear the blockage. Don’t look if you’re about to eat….

Thank you for your understanding and help with this!

-Jerry Bryant

City Manager

jerryb@yerington.net