Posted on: November 10, 2016[ARCHIVED] Prevent Clogged Drains & Sewer Overflows
Disposal of fats, oils, and greases (F.O.G.) down your household fixtures can cause health hazards, create an unwelcome clogged sink or toilet, and cost you and your city a lot of extra money.
Blockages accounts for almost half, at 43%, of all sanitary sewer overflows. You should avoid sending any foreign material down your sewer pipes. Paper products, wood, metal, and even toys are flushed down the toilet all too often. Worse than any of these is F.O.G., which solidifies in the lines of the collection system and forms large chunks that get stuck or builds on the walls of the pipes, narrowing the lines headed to the treatment plant. A blockage of the collection system could cause the sewer to overflow, also known as sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), and spill into ditches and thusly to our ship channel and bay. It could also cause the sewer system to backup into your yard or even your home. Untreated wastewater can be a costly cleanup and can cause serious health issues for you and the surrounding community. Another outcome is a fish kill in our waterways. Nobody wants to see wastewater bubbling out from manhole covers and traveling down our storm sewer, and you certainly don't want it backing up in your yard or home.
Instead of pouring your cooking oils and greases down the sink drain, capture them in a container with a tight sealing lid. Your used grease, once it solidifies, can be placed in your trash bag. Liquid oil and greases can be placed in a screw tight container, such as an old milk carton, and placed at the street curb with your normal household trash. The City of Deer Park has been collecting used motor oil and will collect your cooking oil also. For citizens who compost, used cooking oil is biodegradable and can be added to your compost piles.
Running hot water and slowly pouring the F.O.G. down the drain does the system no good either. If the fats, oils, and greases make it past your lines to the main, which is not likely due to cooling too fast, that blockage will be building downstream from your connection.
Please use careful consideration when discarding F.O.G. Your participation can save money and improve the chances of never having a backup in your home.
