Officials with GRU, the city-owned utility, say an utterly avoidable problem is wreaking havoc on its wastewater system.

A giant-mophead-flushing mischief maker is turning city wastewater officials into amateur sleuths.

An as-yet unknown culprit in northwest Gainesville — unaware or unconcerned that they shouldn’t flush heavy-duty mopheads down the toilet — is creating massive headaches for city officials.

Gainesville Regional Utilities officials say the utterly avoidable problem is wreaking havoc on its wastewater system, costing the city thousands of dollars in damages and workers' time.

Over the past couple months, GRU has pulled 10 mopheads that have clogged the same wastewater pumping station in the 1100 block on Fort Clarke Boulevard. Seven of them came within the last 31 days.

“I don’t care if we don't catch the person, I just want them to stop,” said Jennifer McElroy, a GRU supervising environment engineer.

Mop Head Removal fromGRU onVimeo.

But that doesn't mean they're not trying to solve the case.

McElroy said she isn't sure why someone would flush a mophead rather than throw it away. The mops aren't causing backups in the wastewater system yet, she said, but are preventing pumps from working.

McElroy said the most recent clog happened July 15. It takes a boom truck with a crane and two workers to remove the tangled mess, costing the city a few thousand dollars each time. In one case, a mophead broke an impeller — a rotating device inside the pump, which cost about $2,500 to replace.

The utility, through mapping, has narrowed the problem area down to a 750-customer area where someone might be at fault, she said. Those customers are being contacted by email, robocalls, social media or a face-to-face visit from GRU.

“We have been going door-to-door and talking to businesses,” McElroy said.

GRU’s wastewater system is frequently challenged by unflushable items being thrown into its system. Some items that frequently cause problems are diapers, paper towels, floss and wipes, including so-called flushable wipes. Clogged pipes can lead to wastewater spills and burst pipes, adding to taxpayers' expense.

Prior to the mop mystery, GRU had launched an educational campaign to remind residents to flush only the three Ps: paper, pee and poop.