Grease traps catch break; City relaxes enforcement at restaurants.

Byline: Nick Kotsopoulos

WORCESTER - The city has adjusted its enforcement of an ordinance requiring local restaurants to install costly equipment to limit the amount of fats, oil and grease entering the municipal sewer system.

Two types of drains have been excluded from immediate enforcement. The relaxed enforcement is expected to dramatically reduce the number of compliance infractions, and lower the costs for establishments to comply with the ordinance, according to City Manager Michael V. O'Brien.

The changes came about after a recent meeting convened by the city manager with representatives of the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, to review all facets of the city's so-called "FOG" (fats, oil and grease) ordinance.

Mr. O'Brien, at the request of the City Council and its Public Works Committee, asked for the meeting because the FOG ordinance is based on methods defined in the state plumbing code to deal with fats, oils and greases.

Robert L. Moylan Jr., commissioner of public works and parks, said the state board representatives definitively concurred with the city's application of the plumbing code to address fats, oils and greases, especially in mandating point-of-use grease traps, interceptors and separators. He said they also supported the city's application of the ordinance to existing food-service establishments.

But, he added, the representatives voiced a difference of opinion on two specific fixtures for which the city had required traps - floor drains and mop sinks.

"They stated that our interpretation of the code's applicability to floor drains and mop sinks was beyond their intent when the code was rewritten and put in effect in March 2005," Mr. Moylan said. "We accept their clarification of the code and will make adjustments in the enforcement of FOG controls."

Mr. O'Brien said his administration is in the process of gathering data regarding the number of businesses that will now be relieved of making costly improvements to their property and will notify those establishments promptly.

"I remain committed to working with the City Council and with state and federal regulators to establish responsible enforcement that balances environmental protection and responsible business ownership," Mr. O'Brien said last night. "I am pleased that there is more than incremental progress on this front."

Mr. Moylan, meanwhile, said his department will continue to work with all food service establishments, to assist them in meeting the city's FOG regulations, and process all extensions-of-time requests to comply with the FOG program requirements.

He added that the city was not being overly aggressive in its enforcement of the state plumbing code and its application for food service establishments, because the code makes specific references to floor drains and floor sinks (mop drains).

"One can clearly see the inclusion of floor drains and floor sinks among the list of fixtures that (the state plumbing code) has deemed mandatory," Mr. Moylan said. "Nonetheless, board representatives stated that their intent when crafting the latest code update was that floor sinks and floor drains only need a grease trap if deemed to be creating a public health nuisance. Given the exchange of information from this meeting, the city will hold in abeyance the requirement that these fixtures be trapped.

"All food service establishments cited for floor drain or mop sink violations will be granted an indefinite extension of time unless they are deemed a public health nuisance," the commissioner added. "In the meantime, it is important to note that 124 food service establishments previously cited are now in full conformance with FOG requirements."

The FOG ordinance came about through an administrative consent order from the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection on sanitary overflows: Worcester had more than 50 sanitary sewer overflows from 2001 to 2003.

The single leading source was blockages caused by fats, oil and grease collecting in the sewer system. The materials congeal into a mass that can totally block sewage flow.

Because of sewer overflows, the city had to pay a $125,000 fine to the EPA, and had to develop a preventive plan.

That led to the FOG ordinance, which requires food-service establishments, such as restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, institutional facilities and clubs to better control those materials by upgrading grease traps and installing grease interceptors.

Of the 1,033 food-service establishments in Worcester, 790 fall under the requirements of the FOG ordinance.

Restaurant owners have lobbied the City Council for relief from the mandate, saying it could cost them up to $10,000, or even more in some cases, to install the new equipment.

They contend they are being unfairly singled out and being ordered to install costly equipment, even though homeowners may be more responsible for the problem. A national survey has shown that restaurants and other food service establishments contribute only 6 percent of the fats, oil and grease discharged into municipal sewers.

NAME: WORCESTER CITY COUNCIL; WORCESTER DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS