This article will cover municipal grease trap prevention. When one stops and looks for a while to appreciate the grandeur of a certain city or state, one couldn’t help but be in awe of the natural gifts given to that place. Anyone would think of what a shame it would be to lose every pristine body of water or land formation for which the area is known for. It would be pretty much the same for the food establishments that have made the town, city, or state a landmark to be remembered. But because of the FOG (fats, oils, grease) crisis that’s worsening, these natural gifts and food establishments may be at risk of getting wiped off the map.
The FOG crisis is an ongoing issue in every state. This is one of the major environmental problems that the United States is battling out. To help alleviate the crisis, the pretreatment or the grease ordinance was formulated and is being implemented. This encompasses every establishment or facility that produces food. The ordinance says that the owner of the establishment should have a grease trap that’s large enough installed within their premises. The grease trap or grease interceptor should have a permit so that the City Sewer Department would be able to inspect it on a regular basis. The ordinance also says that the water that enters the grease trap should not have a temperature higher than 130 degrees Fahrenheit because this will cause the FOG to melt. If the FOG melts, it will mix with the wastewater. Once the wastewater enters the sewer lines, the FOG will cool down and will solidify. It will then adhere to the walls of the pipes and thicken as more FOG-filled wastewater passes through the pipes. Eventually, the pipes get blocked and this results to wastewater backup.
Wastewater backup is the most dreaded result of FOG overflow. Food companies or facilities that manufacture food are strictly required to have grease traps to prevent it from happening and contaminating the premises. If there is contamination within an area that produces food, the products will be questionable and may not even be recommended safe for consumption. The particular municipality would surely suffer from such an environmental tragedy. Municipal grease trap prevention should be the ultimate goal for every establishment. Preventing the onset of FOG overflow would save the companies a lot of money. Instead of paying large fines and expensive attorneys for lawsuits, they could put that money as additional capital for the company’s needs.
Under normal circumstances, a grease trap or grease interceptor should collect the FOG and solid wastes and separate them from the untreated effluent. The FOG would solidify and float on top of the effluent and the solid wastes sink to the bottom of the trap. By then, the effluent has undergone pretreatment. If this stage is successful, the effluent flows with clear consistency through the pipes that lead to the wastewater treatment facility. But when the FOG level in the grease trap is not well-monitored, the FOG overflows and spills into the wastewater and clogs the pipes.
Municipal grease trap prevention can be done by encouraging the right means of FOG disposal in various kitchens and wash areas. These should be disposed in a bin that can be sealed up and then thrown away with the regular trash. FOG should never be poured directly into drains. Another means of municipal grease trap prevention is using bacteria to treat and clean up the grease trap. Bioremediation and bioaugmentation are two processes that involve the use of friendly bacteria. Bioremediation uses non-pathogenic bacteria to change the harmful state of the FOG into a less harmful one. Bioaugmentation uses a selected strain of bacteria to digest the contaminants and the FOG in the grease trap.
Bacteria are the most reliable solutions in municipal grease trap prevention. They have always been there, just waiting for the right opportunity to help with huge problems such as the FOG crisis.