Bangor sewage treatment plant tells restaurants to get the grease out

BANGOR, Maine The last time you ate at a Bangor restaurant you probably didnt spend much time thinking about what was going down the drain in the kitchen. City officials have been thinking about it a lot and are beefing up efforts to ensure restaurants are doing all they can to prevent grease, fat and oil from wreaking havoc in the citys sewer system.

Every year, the Bangor Wastewater Treatment Plant collects about 58 tons of grease, coagulated fat and oil that has made its way through city sewers to the plant. That grease is shipped off to a landfill. This year, that work is expected to cost the city about $15,000, according to Brad Moore, plant superintendent.

If the plant didnt remove that waste, the grease would end up in the Penobscot River.

Some grease comes to the plant after it is dumped down the sinks of residents who have cooked their pound of bacon in the morning or browned a skillet of ground beef for tacos. The vast majority, however, comes from restaurants that arent in compliance with city codes that require them to use systems to prevent as much grease as possible from getting into the sewer system, Moore said.

When [the grease] cools off as it starts to get down into the sewer system, it starts coating the sides of the pipes and it actually can coat it to the point where it can block up the pipe, Moore said.

That means sending a machine that shoots a high-pressure water jet down the pipe to free up the clog and placing a vacuum truck at the other end to suck out the grease, all of which is an added expense to the city.

Were talking about two big, expensive pieces of equipment and four personnel dedicated to cleaning that one section of line, Moore said.

Crews are sent out to clear drains of congealed grease on a regular basis, he said, some of them repeatedly.

Most often, the clogged pipes can be found downstream of areas with a high concentration of restaurants, Moore said, so the city is putting its focus there.

Bangor wastewater treatment officials are implementing a new fats, oil and grease program aimed at dramatically reducing the amount of grease that ends up in the plant and in the citys roughly 160 miles of sewer lines.

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Bangor sewage treatment plant tells restaurants to get the grease out