Plumbing & Drain Industry News 

Grease clogs Largo’s arteries

By DAVE SHELTON - Article published on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007

LARGO – Perhaps fittingly, the Largo City Commission convened Sept. 25 at the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. At the top of the commission’s agenda was a report on kitchen grease clogs that cost the city $250,000 a year and can cause sewage backups into homes.

Only a dozen area residents showed up for cookies with commissioners and a chance to speak up on neighborhood issues. One thanked commissioners for giving her mobile home park’s association new landscaping at its entrance.

Other speakers were regulars at commission meetings. Commission candidate Curtis Holmes said he understood it was ok for residents to pour olive oil down the drain because it doesn’t congeal in the sewer pipes like other types of grease.

City Environmental Manager Cheryl Putnam said this was true but that the city didn’t want to emphasize that lest residents be confused over what they can put into their drains.

Putnam outlined a communications program intended to educate residents about the problems caused by grease. She showed photographs of pipes clogged by the slimy, coagulated substance.

The city is also planning to implement a grease recycling program in January, she added. Residents would be provided with special grease containers that would be collected with their trash and sold to a recycling company that converts the grease into an alternative fuel for diesel motors.

The city has embarked on a state and federally mandated renovation of its aging and leaky sewer system that could cost the city up to $100 million over the next 10 years.

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Steel Valley High School sewage backup prompts inspection of lines

By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Article published Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Allegheny County Health Department is working with the Steel Valley School District to correct sewer line problems that caused a backup of sewage in the kitchen of the high school cafe-teria during lunch time Sept. 17.

The backup occurred in the rear of the kitchen when workers who were washing dishes let three sinks drain at the same time, said Dennis Keesecker, Steel Valley's director of facilities. The backup was not substantial, Mr. Keesecker said.

Health Department Spokesman Guillermo Cole said a plumbing inspector from the department visited the school Sept. 18 after receiving a complaint about the backup.

Mr. Cole said the caller indicated that sewage backups were a recurring problem at the district, but Mr. Keesecker said he was not aware of any other sewage backup in the cafeteria since he took over last December.

Mr. Cole said the inspector suspected that the lines were clogged with grease because there were no grease traps on the sewage lines. Though grease traps are now required on sewage lines to kitchens, it's likely the lines at the high school, built in 1979, were installed before that requirement, Mr. Cole said.
Mr. Cole said the health department has recommended that Steel Valley "hydrojet" the sewage lines to break up any grease that may be clogging them. Then, a camera should be sent into the lines to detect any breaks.
Any cracks or breaks should be repaired and grease traps should be installed, he said. In the meantime, a temporary sewer line has been installed to bypass the problem sewer line.