The FOG (fats, oils, grease) crisis in the US is threatening to rule every single state with health and environmental issues if not dealt with immediately. Even with the rise of technological development, overflow of sewage and FOG still threatens to wipe out the facilities and the waterways in every state. It is saddening to accept that the major contributors in this FOG problem are the government housing projects that are in the apartment building format. This is why we have government housing grease trap prevention.
Government housing has been going on for decades. Through the years many structures have been erected and many families have been provided with safe and decent homes. These housing programs are subsidized by the government and are considered multiple dwelling units that are mandated to have grease traps or grease interceptors. Just like food establishments or food processing plants, government housing units produce their own foods in the individual kitchens provided. As more and more tenants reside in government housing apartment buildings, the FOG situation seems to remain uncontrolled.
WERF (Water Environment Research Foundation) is a non-profit organization that manages and funds research about water quality. It has a partnership with both private industries, universities, corporations, including municipal facilities and the US government. With WERF, technology and science are devoted to address the water issues that directly affect life, land, and the atmosphere. Part of the WERF research is to conduct studies on grease interceptors. The conventional design that has been used up to the present is not that efficient enough in separating grease materials from the effluent. WERF has modified the design of grease traps for their experiments and proved that certain changes in the design and structure of the conventional grease trap could very well improve its performance. This study that WERF conducted indicates that there is a need for an improvement in grease trap design if the FOG problem is to be directly addressed.
While waiting for grease trap design improvements, government housing grease trap prevention has to be strongly implemented to help the FOG overflow. About 40 to 50 percent of sanitary system overflows are mainly caused by FOG. If the accumulation is not controlled or prevented, then this percentage may go up eventually.
Government housing grease trap prevention can be done by the residents themselves with the encouragement of the government agencies that manage the apartment building. Signs that remind everyone not to dump their grease materials in their sinks should be put up. Food meshes or filters should be installed in the drains of kitchen sinks so that excess grease materials and solid wastes could be caught even before they reach the grease trap. Grease and solid waste materials should be scraped manually from the kitchen equipment, utensils, and dishes before they are washed. There should even be a trash can devoted to collecting food scraps. The collected substances should then be placed in a sealed container and properly disposed together with the rest of the trash.
The management should also carefully supervise the collection and dumping of the FOG during maintenance schedules. By law, proper disposal of the FOG should be assured. Government housing facilities should also have people or volunteers to oversee the pump out schedule and the FOG disposal. There are waste haulers that have low fees because they illegally dispose of the FOG. If the government agencies allow this, then they, too, will get in trouble with the law and even contribute more to the FOG problem.
Government housing grease trap prevention can be implemented efficiently by using bio-augmentation or bioremediation during grease trap cleaning schedules. These processes both use bacteria to consume the FOG and solid waste materials in the grease trap. When non-pathogenic, cultured bacteria are used, the bad odors could be taken care of as well. There won’t even be an issue with the effects on the environment because bacteria don’t have chemical discharges to pollute waterways. Using bacteria for government housing grease trap prevention is the best way to solve the FOG crisis.
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