Septic tank maintenance

June 24th, 2013:

Government housing grease trap maintenance

This article will cover government housing grease trap maintenance. There is an increasing demand for respect toward the environment these days. This is evident in the various products and facilities that are being manufactured and built. Everywhere you look; there are vehicles, detergents, clothing, shopping malls, offices, and homes that are practicing the “green” way. People make a lot of effort to bring environmental awareness because this is the only known Earth to which they owe their lives.

There a still some structures and components that are poorly rated when it comes to performing for the environment even with the surge of technological innovations. One such type of structure is the typical government housing facilities that are in the apartment building format. In this structure, hundreds of families and individuals rent their apartment units at a much lower price because it is subsidized by the government. Low-income earners resort to living in uniformly designed units that have a bathroom, a sleeping area, and a kitchen.

Just like restaurants, resorts, hotels, and food processing plants, government housings are mandated to have grease traps installed outside the building, underground. The reason behind this is that every unit has a kitchen. This is the part of the unit that delivers a substantial deposit of FOG (fats, oils, grease) into the grease trap. If the grease trap is not well-maintained (whish happens most of the time), the grease trap overflows with FOG (fats, oils, grease). The FOG then spills into the wastewater that passes through the sewer lines. The FOG solidifies and sticks to the walls of the pipes and completely blocks the flow of the untreated wastewater. Pathogen- and chemical-filled wastewater laced with FOG back up into the government housing facilities and even run off into the waterways.

It is undeniable that the health of the population and the surrounding environment are extremely affected by the FOG crisis. This is why a Grease Ordinance is implemented in every state. But even if there is such an ordinance, cooperation and coordination among the government agencies that manage the government housing facilities should be given much more attention.

Government housing grease trap maintenance should be done diligently and vigilantly. Any equipment or component that goes unsupervised is bound to malfunction or fail. Since there are so many kitchen installations in the government housing units, the grease trap in each apartment building should be regularly monitored so that the management will know the right time to pump it out. It is mandatory to have the grease trap or grease interceptor cleaned four times within a year. But if the FOG and solid wastes accumulate too fast, it’s already be a given that the pump out should be done more often.

Everyone in each apartment building should participate in regular government housing grease trap maintenance specially the residents. The government agency that oversees them all should constantly put up reminders in making sure that the solid wastes and FOG that they produce every day should be properly disposed of in trash bins and not into the drains of the kitchen sinks. The residents should collect all the grease materials in a sealed container and dump it in the trash bin. The food scraps should be placed in a trash can and sealed up before it’s thrown in the bin as well. Food filters or food meshes should be installed in the kitchen sink drains to catch any small particle of food and grease during washing.

Another method to incorporate into government housing grease trap maintenance is the use of bioremediation or bioaugmentation. Bioremediation uses non-pathogenic bacteria in consuming the accumulated FOG and solid wastes and then converting them into less harmful substances. Bioaugmentation uses a selected strain of bacteria that thoroughly consumes the solid waste materials and FOG in the grease trap. These two processes are highly recommended to make government housing grease trap maintenance so much easier and faster. Through bacteria, the health and safety of everyone and the environment are assured.