GALLIPOLIS — Gallipolis City Manager Randy Finney recently announced plans for an upcoming program to help keep grease from the city sewers.

The Code Enforcement, Utilities Department and the Water Pollution Control Facility are working in conjunction with the Gallia County Health Department to implement an oil and grease management program. This program will help area restaurant and food services to control the amount of grease that ends up in the city sewers.

Grease trap maintenance will be the key in keeping sewers from becoming clogged and causing the sewer system to become backed up. Public information about traps and interceptors will be handed out along with a copy of the city’s ordinance that will inform restaurant owners of their responsibility to keep their traps working.

Cleaning on a regular basis will be required thus preventing oils and greases from entering the sewer line. There is a law that prohibits the use of hot water and enzymes to keep traps cleaned. These products appear to be working, when actually they are allowing the grease to get past the trap area and enter the sewer, where it congeals and the clogging begins.

There are solutions that can be done to keep grease problems to a minimum such as:

• Keep grease traps and interceptors cleaned out and working properly. Usually a scheduled cleaning or pumping out is required. This would be the most important and most effective solution.

• Stop grease before it goes down the drain by scraping plates, not allowing grease into drains.

• Employee awareness – Post signs, meet with employees and stress the importance of keeping grease out.

• Check that food disposal waste does not go down the same drain as the grease trap. This type of waste only hinders and fills trap with food particles instead of grease.

• Public education – inform the entire community of the importance of keeping this problem out of the city sewers and how everyone would benefit from this practice.

A representative from both the city and county will be making visits in the next few months to all area restaurants and food service establishments that discharge to the city sewer to answer any questions and explain how the oil and grease management plan will work.