Rules for installing and maintaining grease interceptors

A. Facilities requirements. 1. General. a. All users shall be required to install and maintain an interceptor for the separation and retention of liquid waste containing fats, oils or grease, flammable wastes, sand, or other harmful constituents that may be properly eliminated from the collection system by use of an interceptor. b. The director may require any user to install, or to increase the size of, an interceptor according to the requirements set forth in this article or other program, prior to connection to the public wastewater system or at any time after connection to the public wastewater system if the director discovers or determines, subsequent to the connection, that the user produces a waste with characteristics that would require installation of an interceptor pursuant to this article. c. An interceptor is not required for a building used solely for residential purposes except where commercial food preparation occurs. d. It is unlawful for any food service establishment or user to dispose of any waste containing fats, oil, grease, solids, or liquids into any drainage piping, public or private wastewater system, storm drainage system, or to discharge any said waste to any land, street, public way, river, stream, or other waterway without the proper governmental permits. e. It is further unlawful for any entity to allow waste to accumulate on its property or in its possession that is injurious to public health or constitutes a nuisance. 2. New facilities. All new food service establishments, automotive related facilities or other identified user newly proposed, constructed, expanded, renovated, reconstructed or that changes ownership, shall be required to install an interceptor. Such installation shall meet the requirements outlined herein and be operational before commencing business. 3. Existing facilities. Existing food, automotive related facilities or other identified user shall be required to install an interceptor on the following schedule. Such installation shall meet the requirements outlined herein. a. Facilities requiring an interceptor shall complete installation of said interceptor within three months of notification by the director. b. Accelerated compliance shall be required for facilities found to be contributing fats, oil, grease or sand in quantities sufficient to cause main line blockages or necessitate increased maintenance on the public wastewater system. Said compliance date will be determined by the director and the facilities will be notified both verbally and in writing. c. Any requests for extensions to required installation dates must be made in writing to the director, at least thirty days in advance of the deadline. A ninety day extension may be granted only upon a showing that a facility cannot reasonably install an interceptor by the specified deadline and will take all necessary measures to minimize the amounts of fats, oil, grease and sand it discharges into the collection system until such interceptor is installed. B. Interceptor requirements. 1. General. a. The installation of a proper interceptor shall be the responsibility of the user who applies for the connection or waste discharge permit, and the user whose operations cause or contribute to the necessity for an interceptor. b. Interceptors shall be installed, utilized, and properly maintained in a continuous and efficient operation at all times and at the expense of the user. c. All interceptors shall be of a type, capacity and construction approved in writing by the director prior to installation. d. An interceptor shall serve only one business establishment, unless a common interceptor is specifically authorized by the director. e. Interceptors no longer in use shall be abandoned in accordance with appendix H of the Uniform Plumbing Code. 2. Design. a. Interceptors for food service establishments shall be sized based upon appendix H of the Uniform Plumbing Code. b. Other factors that may influence the design include, but shall not be limited to, the following: i. The type of facility (a restaurant, bakery, cheese factory, car wash, gas station, lube facility, etc.); ii. The volume of the user's business or operation (such as number of meals served, number of seats, hours of operation); iii. The peak flow of process wastewater discharged to the collection system; iv. Size and nature of facilities (including kitchen facilities) based on size, type, number of fixtures, and type of processing or cooking equipment used; v. The type of service provided or operation undertaken (such as dine-in meal service versus carry-out meal service); vi. The type of foods or other materials used in cooking, processing or manufacturing operations conducted within the facility; vii. The overall potential for grease-laden, flammable or sand-laden discharges; viii. The existence of devices, procedures or processes designed to minimize the amount of fats, oil, grease, sand or other flammable liquids from entering the collection system; ix. The location of the facility, if it is located in a known problem area; x. Any prior problems with the facility, such as blockages, violations, etc. c. All interceptors shall be certified by IAPMO and be plumbed according to the Uniform Plumbing Code. d. Grease interceptors shall not exceed a capacity of fifteen hundred gallons, unless specifically authorized by the director. e. A grease interceptor shall not be installed in any part of a food service establishment where food is handled. f. Grease interceptors within any food service establishment shall not exceed thirty five gpm/seventy pounds grease (minimum liquid capacity of thirty gallons), unless specifically authorized by the director. g. Except where an acceptable existing sampling point is available, all food service establishments and other identified users shall install an effluent sampling box of a size and type to be approved by the director. h. The vent line from the sample port riser on the interceptor outlet-line shall be connected to the building waste vent piping. i. Inspection by the director of installed interceptors and piping prior to backfilling is required. Piping shall meet the requirements of the Uniform Plumbing Code. 3. Interceptor maintenance. a. Any user who is required by the director or this article to install or operate an interceptor shall be required to adequately maintain the interceptor at the user's expense, so that the interceptor is in proper working order at all times. Maintenance shall include the complete removal of all contents, including floating materials, wastewater, sludge and solids. Decanting or discharging of removed waste back into the interceptor from which the waste was removed or into any other interceptor, for the purpose of reducing the volume to be hauled, is prohibited. b. Grease and oil interceptors shall be cleaned out completely by a permitted waste hauler at least once each month, unless otherwise required by the director, to assure that the interceptor will operate as designed at all times. c. The use of additives to emulsify grease and/or oil is specifically prohibited. d. The use of biological additives as a supplement to interceptor maintenance, including the addition of micro-organisms, may be authorized by the director and approval shall be obtained in writing prior to the use of such additives. e. Any user who is required to install or have in operation an interceptor pursuant to this article, shall be required to have a written plan of operation or program for its facility that ensures that the interceptor operates as designed. These procedures may include: adoption of kitchen practices to minimize the grease-laden garbage- that ultimately enters the facility's drains and floor traps, maintaining records of inspections by the user of the interceptor, maintaining on-site manifests from the permitted waste hauler servicing the interceptor, or other such procedures as may be required for the proper operation of the interceptors. f. A maintenance log indicating each pumping of an interceptor for the previous twelve months and any other pertinent information shall be maintained by each establishment. This log shall include, but not limited to, date, time, amount pumped, hauler and disposal site and shall be kept in a conspicuous location for inspection by the state department of health or the director. g. The information provided by the maintenance log must be submitted to the director in an annual report. The report shall be submitted within thirty days after the end of each calendar year. h. All users must sign a waste manifest form before having a waste load transported by a permitted hauler. The user shall also keep copies of the manifest form for a period of at least three years, and make all manifest records available for inspection by the director during normal business hours. i. All waste removed from an interceptor must be disposed at a facility permitted by the County or applicable regulatory agencies to receive such waste. The pumpage shall not be returned to any POTW, any private wastewater system or storm drains. j. All interceptors shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning, inspection and removal of intercepted waste. k. Any fixture connected to a grease interceptor shall have a nonremovable, secured food strainer of such integrity to withstand daily operational usage. 4. Variance. a. Establishments that do not generate fats, oil grease or sand and show that the discharge does not contribute fats, oil, grease or sand to the public wastewater system as defined by this article, may apply to the director for a variance from the requirement to install an interceptor. b. The director may grant a variance upon demonstration that an establishment will not introduce fats, oil, grease or sand into the public wastewater system. Such demonstration may include, but need not be limited to, type of facilities, type of food prepared or processed with an explanation why the establishment does not generate or introduce fats, oil, grease or sand in its wastewater, and showing through laboratory analysis that no fats, oil, grease or sand is generated or introduced into the public wastewater system. A minimum of four samples that are a true representative of the establishment's discharge shall be collected. The laboratory analysis shall meet the requirements outlined herein. c. If a variance is granted, periodic demonstration or inspections of the establishment shall be required to determine that there has not been any change of operations that could generate or introduce fats, oil, grease or sand into the public wastewater system. C. Required connections to interceptors. Three-compartment sinks, scullery (preparation) sinks, floor drains and floor sinks along a cook line, prewash sinks at dishwash stations, and all other fixtures that contribute fats, oil, grease and sand into the wastewater system shall be connected to an interceptor. D. Prohibited connections to interceptors. 1. Food waste disposal, garbage grinder or garbage disposal units and similar sources or putrescent waste are prohibited in plumbing systems where any type of interceptor is required to be installed. Existing food service establishments utilizing food waste disposals, garbage grinders or garbage disposal units shall remove such units within thirty days from date of notification by the director. 2. Refrigerator drain lines, beverage dispenser drain lines, hand sinks, and similar drains that do not ordinarily receive significant quantities of fats, oils, grease or sand but produce significant flow shall not be connected to any type of interceptor. 3. Dishwashers, showers, toilets, washing machines, baths, refrigerator condensate, beverage dispenser, or sinks shall not be connected to nor discharge through any type of interceptor. 4. The use of any additive, such as enzymes, surfactants or chemicals shall not be connected to any type of interceptor. Chemical additives, such as chlorinated solvents, are strictly prohibited from use in any type of interceptor. E. Plan review. 1. Applicants or users shall be required to submit copies of detailed facility plans for the director's review and approval. The plans shall depict existing or proposed interceptors; pretreatment facilities, spill containment facilities, monitoring facilities, metering facilities, and operating procedures. Facility plans shall also include site plans, floor plans, mechanical and plumbing plans, and details to show all wastewater plumbing, spill containment, and appurtenances by size, location, and elevation. The review of the plans and procedures shall in no way relieve the user of the responsibility of modifying the facilities or procedures in the future, as may be necessary to produce an acceptable discharge, and to meet the requirements of this article or any requirements of other regulatory agencies. 2. All submitted drawings shall be prepared by a licensed and registered professional engineer. Any false information or misleading calculations submitted shall be the responsibility of the user. 3. The design, location and procedures for operation and maintenance of a required interceptor shall be approved by the director. Such approval shall be obtained prior to the user's connection of the facility to the public wastewater system, in the event of new construction or remodeling. 4. In circumstances where a user has already connected to the public wastewater system and the director determines that an interceptor must be installed, the user shall promptly provide for the installation of the interceptor within a reasonable time frame as established by the director. The user shall provide design plans and operational plans for the director's approval prior to interceptor installation. 5. No food service establishment, automotive related facility or other identified user shall be constructed, remodeled, or converted except according to plans and specifications approved by the director. 6. Approved plans and specifications shall not be changed or altered without written approval by the director. F. Fats, oil, grease and sand waste discharge permits. It shall be prohibited for any food service establishment, automotive related facility or other identified user to discharge process wastewater into the public wastewater system without a wastewater discharge permit and pay the appropriate fees, as set forth in the annual budget of the County. (Ord. 2760 § 4 (part), 1999)