Conference Speakers

Jessica Gauger

Director of Legislative Advocacy & Public Affairs, CASA

BIOGRAPHY

Jessica Gauger manages CASA’s state and federal legislative advocacy initiatives in California and Washington D.C. In her role, Jessica is CASA’s lead advocate in the California Legislature and interfaces with elected officials, legislative staff, and other stakeholders to advance CASA’s public policy priorities. She also works in conjunction with our professional consultants in Washington D.C. to advocate on behalf of issues of interest to the wastewater community. Jessica oversees CASA’s state and federal legislative committee activities and all external and membership initiatives related to our legislative advocacy programs.

Prior to her employment with CASA, Jessica was employed with the contract lobbying firm, Michael F. Dillon & Associates, where she represented CASA as a contract legislative advocate, and previously worked on staff in the California State Senate. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from San Diego State University.

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What's America Flushing? A Deep Dive into the Largest Sewage Collection Study Conducted

Sanitation agencies and the wipes industry worked with an independent engineering firm, Kennedy-Jenks, to conduct the largest sewage collection study to date in order to see what Americans are really flushing and what's causing issues for sewage treatment facilities.

Two collection studies were conducted by INDA in partnership with RFA, CASA, and selected CASA member agencies: the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA) in Southern California and the Central Contra Costa Sanitation District (Central San) in Northern California.

A total of 1,745 articles were documented across the four sampling events, marking it as the largest such collection study conducted in the United States.

Findings include:

Paper Products -- 52.8%

Nonwovens Labeled "Do Not Flush" -- 34.1%

Feminine Hygiene -- 7.2%

Trash -- 4.9%

Flushable Wipes -- 0.9%

The percentage of materials collected within each category had a high degree of consistency across collection events and facilities suggesting similar behavior across California. Based on this information, implementing consumer education to discourage the flushing of the top three categories could capture over 90 percent of the recovered materials.

Study results are informing the wipes industry's FlushSmart educational campaign to promote the "Do Not Flush" symbol and help consumers understand what should and should not be flushed.