Grease ordinance expected following report

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The Costa Mesa Sanitary District board will announce its

intent to adopt a grease control ordinance at its meeting tonight.

In doing so, the board must adopt a letter indicating that it will

adopt and enforce the new ordinance.”The Costa Mesa Sanitary District

does not currently have a grease control ordinance because the building

officials within the district’s service area have used their discretional

authority under the Uniform Plumbing Code to require interceptors where

they determined it was appropriate,” the proposed statement reads.

“However, the district agrees with the grand jury report that grease is

the No. 1 cause of sewer spills and is prepared to adopt an ordinance in

the immediate future.”

The proposed letter is a response to an Orange County Grand Jury

report sent to the district in April.

The report states that grease discharged from restaurants and

high-density residential areas is a leading cause of sewage spills and

recommends that the district adopt an ordinance to prevent such

occurrences.

The grand jury sent letters to all cities in the county requesting

information about any grease-trap installation or maintenance

requirements that are not in place. The cities have until July 25 to

respond.

Board member Dan Worthington said he favors the proposed letter.

“Our feeling is that we’ve got ourselves into a position where we

don’t have many choices,” he said. “We know that the Orange County

Sanitary District is going to be putting their grease ordinance in place

because this is a countywide problem, a statewide problem, and we’re just

realizing that if we’re going to clean up pollution, we’ve got to get to

the problem that is causing sewer pipes to back up.”

Worthington said it has become obvious to him that restaurants are the

culprits.

“Pipe clogs and sewer spills are very expensive to clean up, and it is

unfair for the whole community to be affected by a small segment that is

the restaurant community.”

But some restaurants owners -- particularly those of small ones --

have said they are concerned about the cost of the traps, which can range

from $10,000 to $40,000 per restaurant.

“Retrofitting older restaurants, especially those in small places, is

going to be much more difficult and very costly,” said Ed Fawcett, Costa

Mesa Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive. “I question how

feasible it is. Are there alternatives to grease traps? I don’t know, but

there’s bound to be another solution. I’m hopeful [the board members] are

going to look at all types of restaurants and come up with something that

makes sense. I would certainly love to see them look at the possibility

of low-interest or no-interest loans, especially for the restaurants that

are going to be heavily impacted.”

Fawcett said he also disagrees that restaurants are the major source

of the problem and said he would like to see a study comparing the amount

of grease produces by restaurants versus homes.

“On a one-on-one basis, there’s no question that restaurants have a

sizable impact, but there are thousands of residences,” he said. “I

disagree with the attitude that restaurants pay for everything because

they are easier to tap. Businesses are getting nailed heavier on energy

and disproportionately on many things.”

According to a sanitary district survey, 77 of the city’s 159

restaurants already have grease traps, 35 do not and 47 had not responded

by Wednesday.