Except as otherwise provided herein, the Director of Public Works shall administer, implement and enforce the provisions of this subchapter. Any powers granted to or duties imposed upon the Director of Public Works may be delegated by the Director of Public Works to other city personnel.
(A) Food service establishment permit requirement. All establishments discharging wastewater to the city sanitary sewer collection system are subject to the permit requirements of § 51.26 and following.
(1) Grease interceptor requirements. All permitted food service establishments including restaurants, cafeterias, diners and similar non-industrial facilities using food preparation processes that generate FOG are required to install, operate and maintain an approved type and adequately sized grease interceptor necessary to maintain compliance with the objectives of this subchapter.
(2) Implementation.
(a) New establishment. All new food service establishment facilities are subject to grease interceptor requirements. All such facilities must obtain prior approval from the Director of Public Works for grease interceptor sizing prior to submitting plans for a building permit. All grease interceptors shall be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.
(b) Existing facilities. Existing facilities with planned modification under a building permit with valuations set forth in the FSE Policy will be required to include plans to comply with the grease interceptor requirements. These facilities must obtain approval from the Director of Public Works for grease interceptor sizing prior to submitting plans for a building permit.
1. All existing food service establishments, determined by the Director of Public Works, to have a reasonable potential to adversely impact the city’s sewer system will be notified of their obligation to install a grease interceptor within the specified period set forth in the notification letter.
2. Existing food service establishments which generate, and discharge wastewater containing FOG, and which have an existing non-complying FOG pretreatment system may, as determined by the city, operate the existing FOG pretreatment system. Such facilities shall submit an application for a permit and include applicable information to amend the existing permit or submit an application for a new permit if no permit exists.
(3) Variance from grease interceptor requirements. Grease interceptors required under this subchapter shall be installed unless the Director of Public Works authorizes the installation of an indoor grease trap or other alternative pretreatment technology and determines that the installation of a grease interceptor would not be feasible.
(4) Costs. All costs and related expenses associated with the installation and connection of the FOG Interceptor(s) or Alternate Pretreatment System(s) shall be borne by the food service establishment. The food service establishment shall indemnify the city and its agents for any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly occur due to the installation of the FOG pretreatment system.
(B) Conditional waivers. Existing FSEs that do not meet the requirements set forth in division (A)(2) above may apply for a conditional waiver. The conditional waiver will specify requirements that the FSE must comply with to operate without an interceptor. The Director of Public Works or designee will continually review FSE compliance with the conditional waiver requirements. A conditional waiver may be revoked at any time for any of the following reasons:
(1) Quantity of FOG discharge as measured or as indicated by the size of FSEs based on seating capacity, number of meals served, menu, water usage, amount of on-site consumption of prepared food and other conditions have changed since the granting of the waiver such that the FSE is contributing to FOG discharges;
(2) Identification of the FSE as a significant contributor of FOG into the Sewer System, which is based on inspection or sampling of the FOG discharged from the FSE’s sewer lateral to the sewer system;
(3) Adequacy of implementation and compliance with Kitchen Best Managements Practices (BMPs);
(4) Change in sewer size, grade and condition based on visual information;
(5) Changes in operations that significantly affect FOG discharge;
(6) Failure to comply with any of the conditions set forth in the waiver; and
(7) Any other condition deemed reasonably related to the generation of FOG discharges by the Director of Public Works.
(C) Exemptions. Exemption from the FSE discharge permit: An exemption may be granted to limited food preparation establishment. A limited food preparation establishment engages only in reheating, hot holding or assembly of ready to eat food products and as a result, no wastewater discharge containing a significant amount of fats, oils and grease. A limited food preparation establishment does not include any operation that changes the form, flavor or consistency of food.
(D) Pretreatment requirements.
(1) Grease interceptor requirements.
(a) Grease interceptors shall be installed at a location where it shall be easily accessible for inspection, cleaning and removal of intercepted grease. The grease interceptor may not be installed in any part of the building where food is handled. Location of the grease interceptor must meet the approval of the Director of Public Works.
(b) All such grease interceptors shall be serviced and emptied of accumulated waste content as required in order to maintain Minimum Design Capability or effective volume. These devices should be inspected annually at minimum. Users who are required to maintain a grease interceptor shall:
1. Provide for a minimum hydraulic retention time to facilitate the separation of oils and grease to the extent that oil and grease concentrations in wastewaters discharged to the sewage system owned, operated and maintained by the city, do not exceed established discharge limitations set by the city as defined in § 51.44;
2. Remove any accumulated grease caps and sludge pockets as required. Grease interceptors shall be kept free of inorganic solid materials which could settle into this pocket and thereby reduce the effective volume of the device; and
3. Be serviced (pumped, cleaned and inspected) by a city permitted liquid waste hauler, at a minimum frequency to ensure proper function. Records of grease interceptors shall be in accordance to division (E) below.
(c) Except as provided herein, for a period of one year following adoption of this subchapter, although installation of grease interceptors will be required to be installed, no enforcement actions will be taken under this subchapter for failure to achieve limits on grease discharges from grease interceptors. However; if, during this one year period an obstruction of a sewer main(s) occurs that causes a sewer overflow to the extent that an impact on the environment is realized and that the overflow or failure of the sanitary sewer collection system to convey sewage can be attributed in part or in whole to an accumulation of grease in the sewer main(s), the city will take appropriate enforcement actions, as stipulated in Chapter 51, against the generator or contributor of such grease.
(2) Grease trap requirements.
(a) Upon approval by the Director of Public Works, a grease trap complying with the provisions of this section must be installed in the waste line leading from sinks, drains and other fixtures or equipment in food service establishments where grease may be introduced into the drainage or sewage system in quantities that can effect line stoppage or hinder sewage treatment or private sewage disposal.
(b) Grease traps shall be maintained in efficient operating conditions by periodic removal of the accumulated grease. No such collected grease shall be introduced into any drainage piping, or public or private sewer.
(c) Except as provided herein, for a period of one year following adoption of this subchapter, although installation of grease traps will be required to be installed, no enforcement actions will be taken under this subchapter for failure to achieve limits on grease discharges from the facility. However; if, during this one year period an obstruction of a sewer main(s) occurs that causes a sewer overflow to the extent that an impact on the environment is realized and that the overflow or failure of the sanitary sewer collection system to convey sewage can be attributed in part or in whole to an accumulation of grease in the sewer main(s), the city will take appropriate enforcement actions, as stipulated in the Industrial Pretreatment Enforcement Plan and Sewer Use Ordinance, against the generator or contributor of such grease.
(E) Compliance monitoring.
(1) City personnel may inspect the facilities of any establishment required to have a grease interceptor or similar device, to determine whether the requirements set fourth in this subchapter are being met. Compliance monitoring shall be conducted pursuant to § 51.29 and as follows:
(a) City personnel will inspect or order the inspection and sample the wastewater discharges of any food service establishment annually; and
(b) Failure of the inspection and cause for re-inspection shall be at the expense of the user subject to the inspection fee outlined in § 51.03(H).
(2) The establishments shall be required to keep all manifests, receipts and invoices of all cleaning, maintenance, inspection, grease removal of/from the grease control device, disposal carrier and disposal site location for no less than three years. The establishment shall, upon request, make the manifests, receipts, invoices and any other applicable documentation available to the Director of Public Works or his or her designee.
(F) Requirements to self-monitor.
(1) The city may require establishments to construct and maintain in proper operating condition at the establishment’s sole expense, flow monitoring, constituent monitoring and/or sampling facilities.
(2) Those establishments discharging under a conditional waiver may be required by the Director of Public Works to install sampling facilities for compliance monitoring.
(3) The location of the monitoring or metering facilities shall be subject to approval by the Director of Public Works.
(4) Establishments may also be required by the Director of Public Works to submit waste analysis plans, contingency plans and meet other necessary requirements to ensure proper operation and maintenance of the grease control device.
(5) Establishments shall not increase the use of water or in any other manner attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for treatment to achieve compliance.
(Ord. 2009-003, passed 7-13-09)