Whether it’s your house, hospital, or business place, you must maintain the cleanliness of the floor to avoid spreading contaminants. However, once you are done with floor cleaning, the water in your mop bucket is completely dirty. Now, the first thing that will come to your mind is where should I dispose of dirty mop water? What is the correct way to handle a bucket of dirty mop water?
What Is the Correct Way to Handle a Bucket of Dirty Mop Water?
You should always pour dirty mop water into a floor drain, sanitary sink, or laundry sink. This is the correct way to handle it.
After pouring the dirty mop water into a drain, you should rinse off the mop bucket and scrub and wash it with a cleaning solution.
Now, rinse the bucket once again and then allow it to dry. You should spray disinfectant before further using the mop.
Where Should Employees Dispose of Mop Water?
If you are an employee and responsible for handling dirty mop water, you should know the right place to dispose of it. Your workplace has floor drains that are designed to dump water. You should always dispose of dirty water in a floor drain.
There will also be a storage area or room in your workplace to store cleaning supplies and other tools. This area should have a drain and a utility sink to fill the mop buckets. You should never dump dirty water in a kitchen sink or hand wash basin. If the mop water contains detergent or a cleaning solution, then you should not dump it outside.
Can You Pour Mop Water Down the Toilet?
Yes, you can, but you shouldn’t. If you pour mop water down the toilet, the dirty water may clog your toilet and pipes. It’s not also good for the environment. However, many people pour mop water down the toilet.
If you wish to pour mop water down the toilet, you should carefully do that by following these steps-
- If the mop water contains any debris, remove that first with your hands or using a strainer.
- You should never rush to pour the mop water down the toilet, instead pour it slowly to avoid overflow or splash.
- Lastly, you should flush the toilet to wash the bowl.
However, we would not recommend you dump the mop water down the toilet. There is nothing bad to dump clean water down the toilet. But if you are dumping dirty mop water that cleaning chemicals, detergent, dirt, enzymes, grim, and dust, then this dirty water can cause harm to the environment and your health. The mop water can clog your toilet and pollute the freshwater of your house.
Can You Dump Mop Water Outside?
As mop water contains cleaning chemicals that are bad for the environment, you should never dump that water outside. In many US states, you will be charged with strict fines for dumping water outside.
How Often Do You Have to Change Mop Water?
Mop water can become dirty very quickly and if you further clean the floors using the dirty mop water, then contaminants can spread easily. Especially, if you are working in a healthcare setting, you must change the mop water frequently to avoid spreading infection among patients.
As soon as you find your mop water visibly dark and dirty, you should change the water. There is no such regulation on the frequency of changing mop water. It depends on the custodian’s judgement and the dirtiness of the floor.
If the mop water is not too dirty, you can use that for further use. However, before placing the mop water into a cleaning solution, you should return it to rinse water and then remove the sedimentation and debris. You should also disinfect the mop water.
Mopping Tips:
Before you apply wet mopping on the floor, dry mopping can be beneficial in some cases. Dry mopping will help you to remove the dirt, debris, and dust from your floor before cleaning the floor with a cleaning solution. This way you can minimize the frequency of changing the mop water.
Floor mopping is essential to protect everyone’s health and stop the spreading of contaminants. If you understand the purpose of cleaning, you will understand what is the correct way to handle a bucket of dirty mop water.
