The City of Sarnia will be working with local restaurants and food handling facilities to limit the amount of grease entering sewage and wastewater treatment plants.
At its meeting Monday afternoon, city councillors threw their support behind the Fats, Oils and Grease (F.O.G.) Management Program which hopes to work with nearly 360 restaurants and food establishments within the city. City Engineer Andre Morin says the program asks owners fill out a survey determining who has oil grease interceptors and maintains them on a yearly basis. He says the next steps are enforcement, then technology to determine the source if grease remains a problem.
"It is a significant problem that we are facing," says Morin. "There's a number of our sewers that we have to maintain on a regular basis because of the accumulation of fats, oils and greases."
"It is a maintenance nightmare and quite costly, especially when it starts plugging up equipment at the pumping stations."
It costs an estimated $36,000 to remove grease from treatment plants each year.
Councillor Bev MacDougall also noted residents also have to comply with by-laws and let grease congeal in a disposable container before throwing it in the garbage.
Morin says the water use and sewers by-laws, in the works for many years, are expected to be completed by the end of this year or early 2016.
