[E-updates] Holiday cooking can impact household plumbing

[Lisa Patterson]

NEWS RELEASE 

 

City of Lawrence, Kansas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006

 

CONTACT: Dave Wagner, Assistant Director of Utilities, Wastewater

(785) 832-7807

 

Holiday cooking can impact household plumbing

 

(LAWRENCE, Ks) - The smells and taste of holiday cooking also create a risk to your household plumbing pipes.  Pouring the remains of dinner delights such as a deep fried turkey, gravy drippings, onions sautéed in butter or oil down the kitchen sink can cause costly and unpleasant sewer blockages and overflows into homes.

 

Sewer blockages and overflows are messy and untreated wastewater can cause health hazards and threaten the environment. Sewer backups can also require expensive cleanup and damage to property. In ten days following the Thanksgiving holiday, the City of Lawrence Department of Utilities responded to four locations of sanitary sewer backups and found that grease had blocked the lines.

 

All year long, people pour byproducts of cooking down the sink drain. During the holiday season, it is expected that larger quantities of fats, oil and grease will make their way to the sanitary sewer system via the kitchen sink. Over time, the build-up can block an entire pipe affecting more than just a household sewer line and cause a block in the sewer system. 

 

Properly disposing of fats, oils and grease this holiday season and all year long is important to keep pipes flowing.  Here are some steps to reduce the amount of fats, oil and grease that enter a household sewer line and the public sewer lines:

 

- Do not put fats, oil, grease or greasy food down the garbage disposal or drain.

- Place small amounts of fats, oil and grease in a container with a tight-sealing lid and place in a trash bag, tie shut and dispose of it in a trash receptacle. 

- Mix cooking oils with an absorbent material such as coffee grounds, place in a lidded container and dispose in a trash receptacle.

- If you have a greasy pan soaking in water, first pour off grease into a container.  Then place paper towels over the drain basket to catch grease and food as you pour the soaking water down the drain.

- Turkey deep fat fryers leave a large amount of oil.  Solidify it for trash pick up by mixing with an absorbent material such as cat litter or a floor dry product.  Or sop up excess oil with newspaper and then place it in the trash.  Larger amounts of waste cooking oil may be brought to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility.  Call the Waste Reduction & Recycling Division at (785) 832-3030 to schedule a drop-off appointment for the oil. There is no fee to Douglas County households. 

 

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FAT-FREE SEWERS FACT SHEET 

Source: Water Environment Federation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

How to Prevent Fats, Oils, and Greases from Damaging Your Home and the Environment

Fats, Oils, and Greases aren't just bad for your arteries and your waistline; they're bad for sewers, too.

 

Sewer overflows and backups can cause health hazards, damage home interiors, and threaten the environment. An increasingly common cause of overflows is sewer pipes blocked by grease. Grease gets into the sewer from household drains as well as from poorly maintained grease traps in restaurants and other businesses.

 

Where does the grease come from?

Most of us know grease as the byproduct of cooking. Grease is found in such things as:

Meat fats 

Lard 

Cooking oil 

Shortening 

Butter and margarine 

Food scraps 

Baking goods 

Sauces 

Dairy products

Too often, grease is washed into the plumbing system, usually through the kitchen sink. Grease sticks to the insides of sewer pipes (both on your property and in the streets). Over time, the grease can build up and block the entire pipe.

 

Home garbage disposals do not keep grease out of the plumbing system. These units only shred solid material into smaller pieces and do not prevent grease from going down the drain. Commercial additives, including detergents that claim to dissolve grease may pass grease down the line and cause problems in other areas.

 

The results can be:

Raw sewage overflowing in your home or your neighbor's home; 

An expensive and unpleasant cleanup that often must be paid for by you, the homeowner; 

Raw sewage overflowing into parks, yards, and streets; 

Potential contact with disease-causing organisms; and 

An increase in operation and maintenance costs for local sewer departments, which causes higher sewer bills for customers. 

What we can do to help

The easiest way to solve the grease problem and help prevent overflows of raw sewage is to keep this material out of the sewer system in the first place. 

 

There are several ways to do this.

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. Call your local sewer system authority if you have any questions.

 

-END-

 

 

 

_____________________________

 

Lisa K. Patterson |Communications Manager

City of Lawrence

PO Box 708 | Lawrence, KS 66044

(785) 832-3406

fax (785) 832-3405

lpatterson at ci.lawrence.ks.us

www.lawrenceks.org

 

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