STORM2K

Company Warns That Flushing Fish Will Grind And Kill Them

POSTED: 7:07 a.m. EDT June 6, 2003

COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Kids be warned: Flushing your pet fish down the drain will not send it safely into the ocean as depicted in the new computer-animated movie "Finding Nemo."

A company that manufactures equipment used to process sewage issued a news release Thursday warning that drain pipes do lead to the ocean -- eventually -- but first the fluid goes through powerful machines that "shred solids into tiny particles."

"In truth, no one would ever find Nemo and the movie would be called 'Grinding Nemo,"' wrote the JWC Environmental company, which makes the trademarked "Muffin Monster" shredding pumps.


In the unlikely event Nemo survived the deadly machines, the company added, he would probably be killed by the chlorine disinfection.

Dang! I just flushed a whole bowl-full 'o goldfish down the
toilet! Now I'm a unintentional murderer... :o

It depends breeze ... we're they alive when you flushed them?

Where's vbhoutex when you need him?

Yeah, the muffin monster is an awesome machine. The manufacturer's rep has visited our office to do a demonstration. It will chew up golf balls, sneakers, pieces of wood, rocks, you name it. You'd be amazed what finds its way into the sewers. However this machine is not universally used, it is only one brand of this type of machine. Some wastewater treatment plants use screening devices instead of grinders to remove the big pieces to make subsequent treatment processes more efficient. You might think it's sh**, but its our bread and butter. (That's an engineer's joke.)