Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG)

Fats, Oil and Grease—or “FOG,” to use the wastewater industry term—has negative impacts on wastewater collection and treatment systems. Many wastewater collection system blockages can be traced to FOG, and such blockages are serious, causing sewage spills, manhole overflows, or sewage backups into homes and businesses.

Two types of FOG pollutants are common to wastewater systems. Petroleum-based oil and grease (non-polar concentrations) occur at businesses using oil and grease, and can usually be identified and regulated by municipalities through local limits and associated pretreatment permit conditions. Animal and vegetable-based oil and grease (polar concentrations) are more difficult to regulate due to the large number of restaurants and fast-food outlets in every community. It is this type of FOG, therefore, that has been the focus at NEIWPCC. We believe that, as more and more municipalities and utilities implement FOG control ordinances and programs to control negative impacts from FOG, a corresponding increase in the capacity to adequately and appropriately treat this material must follow.

By exploring the links on this page, information is available from a series of workshops NEIWPCC conducted to address increasing FOG treatment capacity. We also provide information on steps that can be taken to control FOG impacts in wastewater collection systems attributable to restaurants and other commercial food preparation establishments

For more about FOG, contact Mike Jennings at NEIWPCC, 978-323-7929, mjennings@neiwpcc.org.