Grease-Free Sewers - Fats, Oils & Grease (FOG)

Grease in sewer pipes causes sewer problems for property owners and the city. Never pour grease in your sink drain and try to use your garbage disposal less. Grease is a byproduct of cooking. It comes from meat, lard, oil, shortening, butter, margarine, food scraps, baking goods, sauces and dairy products. When grease washes down the sink, it sticks to the insides of the pipes that connect your home or business to the town ‘s sewer. It also coats the insides of the town's sewer pipes.

Eventually, the grease can build up until it completely blocks sewer pipes. That can create difficult and expensive maintenance problems for both the town and private property owners. Blocked sewer pipes can cause raw sewage to back up into your home or business, or overflow into streets and streams.

Garbage disposals don't keep grease out of sewer pipes. Products that claim to dissolve grease may dislodge a blockage, but will only cause problems farther on down the line when the grease hardens again. What you can do to help:

• Never pour grease down a drain or into a toilet.
• Put baskets/strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids and empty them into the trash can.
• Scrape grease and food scraps into a trash can and avoid sending them down the drain or through the food disposal.

Help Keep Our Drains Drug-Free

In the current day and age, medications are prevalent and varied. While trace amounts can pass through the human body, there are thousands of pounds of unused or expired medications in the USA that need disposed of every year. In the past some may have recommended to flush these medications down the drain. Analysis has shown the presence of compounds and drugs from these sources in streams and lakes.

While there is no current evidence that these trace chemicals pose a risk to human health, scientists have found some interference with aquatic organisms. It is, therefore, prudent to control what ends up in the water environment. Please do not flush medications down the toilet! View more information regarding disposal of drugs and medication.

Facility Tours & Presentations

Still interested in learning more about wastewater and water as a resource? Please contact our Sewer Division office to schedule a facility tour.