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Council considers new liquid waste disposal ordinance
By SARAH BLASKOVICH, Staff Writer
In order to keep sewage from seeping onto residential and commercial property, the Southlake City Council considered a new ordinance Tuesday that would require businesses — generally restaurants — to empty their grease traps every 90 days.
The issue, unpleasant as it might seem, is more common in Southlake sewer systems than city officials would like, said Chuck Kendrick, deputy director of public works.
When businesses place grease in the traps and leave it there for an extended period of time, grease begins to leak into the sewer systems. If this happens too frequently, the sewers get clogged and can create unexpected messes above-ground, Kendrick said.
A memorable incident happened about three months ago, when sewage crept into the first floor of City Hall one evening, he said.
The ordinance discussed Tuesday night had already been in process when part of City Hall was backed up with sewage. However, it proved that grease contamination continued to be a problem, Kendrick said.
Feedstore BBQ in Southlake empties their grease trap about every two months, said general manager Chuck Girard. Because each restaurant differs on how much grease they dispose of, it’s hard to suggest how often restaurants should need to empty them, he said.
Ordinance No. 914, as it’s called, is a response to a Texas House of Representatives bill passed in 2003 that required the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to adopt parameters for grease control.
TCEQ was “slow to respond,” to the 2003 bill, Kendrick said. Although some cities enacted their own ordinances once the House Bill was passed, Southlake waited for direction from the TCEQ. It has been four years.
Kendrick anticipates that upon the second reading of the ordinance at the Oct. 2 council meeting, the new law will pass. Once that happens, the public works department will notify all businesses with grease traps that they must have them emptied every 90 days.
The charges associated with having and servicing a grease trap are the responsibility of individual businesses, Kendrick said.
Contact Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or SBlaskovich@acnpapers.com.
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