Ellijay-Gilmer County Water and Sewerage Authority board members amended a section of the authority’s sewer use ordinance that pertains to commercial grease disposal when meeting Monday, March 2.
Wording added to article 5:5 of the ordinance states:
“The owner or facility occupant shall not introduce or cause, permit or suffer the introduction of any surfactant, solvent or emulsifier into a grease interceptor.”
The ordinance defines surfactants, solvents and emulsifiers as substances that allow grease to pass from grease interceptors (grease traps) into the collection system. They include, but aren’t limited to enzymes, soaps, diesel fuel, kerosene, turpentine and other solvents.
“It’s mainly for restaurants or anybody that has a grease trap device. Basically, they can’t put stuff in there that causes the grease to dissolve to where it gets in the sewer line,” explained water authority director Gary McVey. “The sewer use ordinance already alludes to this a little bit, but I don’t think it (was) as clear as it ought to be. I want to be able to point straight to the ordinance and this particular wording.”
McVey said grease traps in the county are checked monthly and their contents are measured to determine the thickness of the collected grease.
“Once it gets to 25 percent or better capacity, we will ask the business to pump the trap,” he said.
If grease gets into the sewer system, it can harden into chucks that create blockages, McVey noted.
There haven’t been any problems lately, but there have been questions about whether it’s OK to use some of the products noted in the amendment with a grease trap, he added.
“I’ve had a couple of questions asking (about) products that people market. We’re trying to stay ahead of the curve because we don’t want that grease getting into the collection system,” McVey said. “Since the grease trap program was implemented in 2003, it’s been one of the most successful programs we’ve had to keep grease out of our collection system and saving those kinds of blockages. We’re probably up to 75-80 traps right now and we honestly couldn’t be more proud of the cooperation we get from local businesses.”
In other news ...
Board members Mike Gibbs, Hubert Parker, Tony Whitaker, Billy Rowe and Don Callihan approved bids for the construction of two new water storage tanks.
A $264,621 bid from National Storage Tank Inc. was approved for construction of a 202,000-gallon bolted steel tank that will service the New Hope area.
The decision was made last year to build a new tank instead of repairing an existing tank on Old Tails Creek Road built in the 1950s, which has extensive deterioration to its roof support system.
“There’s only a couple of companies that build this type of tank and this particular company met all the GEFA (Georgia Environmental Finance Authority)requirements,” McVey said.
The water authority is looking at a 160-day timeframe for the project, which includes foundation design and construction, manufacturing of tank panels, mobilization and tank construction.
The bid includes a $15,000 addendum that was added because the tank construction can’t be performed 24/7 per a city noise ordinance that stipulates such work can take place from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Hours for the tank work will be the same on Saturdays and no work will be done on Sundays, McVey noted.
A $546,200 bid from the Crom Corporation was approved for the construction of a 325,000-gallon prestressed concrete ground storage tank that will service the Yukon area and support new water line installed as part of a system-to-system interconnection with Pickens County.
A $585,000 bid from Pre-Con Corporation was also received for the tank construction project.
“These two companies are the only ones in our area that bid prestressed concrete tanks. Both companies, when they bid the project, indicated they (will) have a lull here pretty quick. They’re looking to come in and get this thing moving about the first week in April,” McVey said.