Got Grease? Avoid the Sink, Wastewater Workers Say

Gross sewer backups do not make one's holidays merry nor bright.

The folks at the Regional Waste Water Quality Control Plant want you to think before you dump stuff down the sink.

Particularly grease. Outside the in Mountain View Tuesday, Maree Doden, Dominic Hoang, and Brian Jones from the City of Palo Alto were trying hard to give away plastic scrapers to encourage shoppers to use them on pots, pans, and plates, so that the contents would go into the trash, not the drain.

The City of Palo Alto runs the regional plant that also serves Los Altos, Mountain View, Stanford, and East Palo Alto. Our wastewater, whether from the toilet or the washing machine or the sink, goes there, and ends up in the bay.

And they want you to treat the bay nice. The anti-grease campaign, called "From the pan to the can" campaign tries to explain that when greasy gunk gums up the sewer system, raw sewage enters storm drains, creeks, and the bay, and it harms wildlife. Not enough reason? It also backs up into houses or onto streets.

The program, which used to be called "Environmental Compliance," now uses the term "Watershed Protection Program," which explains more about what it is trying to do, Doden said.

But, compliance is part of it, too. The sewer collection system currently experiences "several hundred blockages" each year, the city website says. The blockages occur primarily in areas where restaurants are present. "Criminal grease management and disposal practices" are "aggressively" pursued by cities and the District Attorney's office, the site says. 

"I'm a restaurant inspector," said Jones, pointing to the icky jar of oil and grease he'd extracted from the grease trap at a restaurant. They had it on display at the table, just for dramatic effect.

Individual households can contribute to the problem, too. They recommend that residents:

• Never pour grease down sink drains or into toilets.
• Scrape grease and food scraps from trays, plates, pots, pans, utensils, and grills and cooking surfaces into a can or the trash for disposal (or recycling where available).
• Do not put grease down garbage disposals. Put baskets/strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids, and empty the drain baskets/strainers into the trash for disposal.
• Speak with your friends and neighbors about the problem of grease in the sewer system and how to keep it out. 

Planning to deep fry a turkey during the holidays? They'll take that vat of grease off your hands at the recycling center at the end of Embarcadero Road until Feb. 1, 2012. There are more resources for responsible grease disposal at www.cleanbay.org  

Doden speaks at schools and fairs as part of the program's outreach. Contact the plant with any questions at 650-329-2598.