Byline: MEREDITH KRUSE THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
NORFOLK -- Don't act surprised. You know what happens when you eat all that delicious fried food. The fat congeals in your system, forming a big greasy clog, and sooner or later, disaster strikes.
No, not in your arteries - in your city sewers. The result: overflows of raw sewage that can poison local waterways and threaten residents' health.
In Norfolk, which is under state order to stop overflows, city officials estimate that 70 percent of sewer backups are due to grease. This holiday season, they're urging residents to stop pouring kitchen grease down the drain.
Utility officials are mounting ``Fight the Fat'' displays in city buildings, sending letters to their 67,000 customers and appealing to civic groups. Starting this week, they're also handing out plastic ``fat can'' lids at department headquarters at 400 Granby St. They hope the bright yellow lids will remind residents to pour grease into an empty metal can, pop it in the freezer and toss it in the trash when the can is full.
The lids are Norfolk's way of combatting a problem that plagues the rest of Hampton Roads, as well as cities from Miami to New York. Nationwide, sewers overflow at least 40,000 times each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Once grease goes down the drain, it's fiendishly difficult to flush out, said Stacy Passaro, municipal program engineer with the Water Environment Federation, an Alexandria group that promotes water quality.
It takes a long time for bacteria to break down
grease and in the meantime, the sticky substance can coat sewer pipes and trap other objects making their way through the system. Add some chilly weather and grease congeals even faster. In neighborhoods where pipes are 6 to 12 inches in diameter, it doesn't take much to form a clog.
It all happens underground, leaving residents blissfully unaware - until the toilet backs up or the manhole down the street belches a noxious brew.
With a problem so invisible, it's hard to persuade people to change their habits, Passaro said.
She's worked in wastewater her entire career and even today, when faced with a frying pan full of grease and a kitchen drain beckoning, she said, ``It's still tempting: `Boy, this little bit's not going to hurt anything.' So I know if I feel that way, most people won't even think about it.''
Publicity campaigns such as Fight the Fat face another problem, Passaro said: Residents aren't the only culprits.
Restaurants, apartment and condominium complexes and other places that produce a lot of sewage also contribute to grease problems.
Locally, nearly all restaurants must have grease traps in their drains. The problem is ``everybody has them but nobody's been monitoring them'' to make sure they're pumped out regularly and functioning properly, Passaro said.
Restaurant inspectors usually don't ask a restaurant to open its grease trap for inspection unless they see something that suggests a problem, said Jeff Graves, an environmental health supervisor with the Norfolk Health Department.
Some cities now require regular cleaning and inspection of grease traps, but Norfolk does not.
Graves said health inspectors work closely with utility officials to scrutinize restaurants in areas with chronic grease problems. The regional sewage treatment agency also requires restaurant owners who don't control grease to pay more for treatment.
Norfolk utility officials say residents can help their pocketbooks when they fight the fat problem. Grease clogs household pipes as well as sewers. And every time a sewer crew has to clean a clog, sewer customers throughout Norfolk foot the bill.
Utility spokeswoman Peg Nelson said she hopes residents will soon be as accustomed to putting grease in the trash as they are to putting their recyclable items in a blue bin.
Ultimately, many of Norfolk's antiquated sewers will need to be replaced, she said.
``Once we fix the sewers, we don't want to years down the road be back in this position,'' she said. ``We would really like people to get used to the fact that you don't put stuff down the drain.''
Reach Meredith Kruse at 446-2164 or mkruse@pilotonline.com
CAPTION(S):
Color Photo
MARK P. MITCHELL/THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Steven Latchut, a city employee, shows large pieces of solidified grease that he dug out of the Norfolk sewer system Friday. The city hopes its ``Fight the Fat'' campaign, which starts this week, will encourage residents to stop pouring grease down their drains.
Photo
MARK P. MITCHELL
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
City employee Steven Latchut uses a vacuum truck to suck grease out of the sewer system at 21st Street and Monticello Avenue in Norfolk on Friday. City officials estimate that 70 percent of sewer backups are due to grease.
Fact Box
SAVING THE SEWERS
Utility officials urge Norfolk residents and businesses to prevent sewer backups by:
Pouring cooled grease into a ``fat can'' and disposing of it in the trash;
Using a basket or strainer in the sink to catch food scraps and other solids. All food scraps, even those processed with a garbage disposal, can block plumbing and sewer lines;
Checking sinks and toilets to make sure they're draining properly;
Routinely cleaning grease traps in restaurants, apartment complexes and other facilities.
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