City tries to tackle a slippery problem

To keep grease out of its sewer system, Clearwater may require restaurants to pay $90 for grease-trap permits. Restaurants also would have to get the traps pumped out regularly.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times,
published May 31, 2001

CLEARWATER -- More than 300 restaurants and other food preparation facilities could face new rules to stop grease from oozing into the city's sewer system by year's end.

The rules would require every dining facility in the city to pay $90 for a city permit to have a grease trap, a metal or concrete holding tank that catches grease until it can be pumped out by a hauling company and taken to a disposal site. The proposal is scheduled for a vote by the City Commission on July 12.

Restaurants also would be required to have their grease traps pumped out every 30 days, unless the businesses worked out a different schedule with the city. They would have to keep maintenance logs for city inspection.

Grease traps found to be faulty or outdated would have to be replaced or upgraded within 180 days.

Restaurants are already required to have grease traps, but the permits and the maintenance requirements would be new.

When grease traps aren't well maintained, city officials say, grease flows from the holding compartments into the city's sewage system, where the yellowish globs stick to pipes and become as hard as concrete. The effect is similar to how a human artery clogs after a person eats too much greasy food.

No one knows exactly how much grease is improperly discharged into the city's sewers, but it is clear there is a problem, said Andy Neff, the city's public utilities director. About two-thirds of the city's annual sewage backups are caused by grease jams, Neff said.

"All we know is we see the result of grease out in the system," Neff said. "We have these huge globs that congeal once it cools down, and it's the source of blockages out there."

Sewage pipe backups can be an expensive, time-consuming mess for city workers. Next week, for instance, the City Commission is slated to vote to pay $100,000 to resident Charles Gross for one such backup that damaged his home earlier this year. The sewage that flooded his house ruined his possessions and forced him to live elsewhere from Feb. 26 through May 19.

Another problem with grease: City utilities officials think it interferes with the city's wastewater disinfection systems by giving a protective coating to bacteria in the waste. Without the grease, the bacteria would be killed as the city treats the water before discharging it into local waterways or the city's reclaimed water system.

If the commission approves of the new grease rules, local restaurants and other kinds of dining establishments, such as the cafeterias in nursing homes, would receive permit applications by mail this fall, said Doreen Spano, a city utilities superintendent who regulates what goes into sewers from large commercial enterprises.

Restaurants that ignore the proposed rules would face fines of $250, according to the proposed ordinance.

The city has already sponsored meetings with the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Restaurant Association's Pinellas County chapter to tell local businesses about the proposal. The city will have a booth at the chamber's trade show Tuesday at the Long Center, 1501 N Belcher Road, to answer questions, Neff said.

So far, there hasn't been staunch opposition to the proposal, Neff said.

Marlene West, a field representative for the Florida Restaurant Association who attended one of the meetings with the city, said restaurant owners probably won't like paying an additional fee or facing additional regulation. She also noted that replacing a grease trap could cost a restaurant thousands of dollars.

But most restauranteurs who met with the city were talking about how it was necessary for everyone to comply, West said.

Neff said the proposed regulations are still a work in progress and could be modified depending on feedback from other city officials and the community before the commission votes on the issue in July.

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