At a busy, large seafood restaurant — one that specializes in southern-fried dishes — kitchen grease was moving faster than customers’ forks. But the restaurant’s concrete interceptor couldn’t handle the flow, causing lotchen grease to be discharged directly into the sanitary sewer system. The discharge created a blockage at a nearby municipal pumping station used to pump effluent to the local sewage treatment plant. The blockage clogged the station’s pumps, reducing its ability to transfer wastewater.
The restaurant’s grease interceptor was severely corroded and needed to be replaced immediately. Pretreatment authorities confirmed the interceptor failed to meet local effluent “FOG” (fats, oils, grease) standards. They quickly raised flags, citing food grease and solids as the leading cause of sanitary sewer overflow.