COVINGTON TWP. - The board of supervisors is poised to crack down on businesses that discharge food preparation wastewater into the township's sewer system without properly maintaining grease traps.
"The problem that we have is that we have too much grease coming into our system," Thomas Yerke, vice chairman of the board, said after the Covington Twp. meeting Tuesday. "Normal organic material like sewage is not a problem. It's just when you introduce foreign materials in there such as different lactoses, amino acids, stuff like that, it throws off the biological process."
Mr. Yerke said the annual cost of "sludge removal" is a minimum of $100,000 and estimated the influx of grease and oil that started last year increases the cost of treating wastewater by 50 percent, or about $50,000.
After water is treated in Covington Twp., it flows to Moscow and eventually discharges into the reservoir in Roaring Brook, Mr. Yerke said.
The ordinance under consideration sets oil and grease content standards for wastewater released by establishments including restaurants, motels, hospitals, schools and bars and subjects businesses to periodic evaluations by the Covington Twp. Sewer Authority.
Three consecutive "unsatisfactory" evaluations would result in penalties, including possible discontinuance of sewer service.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, supervisors discussed revising the agreement for outside groups to rent the Moffat Estate for events in response to a party last year during which alcohol was served. After the meeting, supervisors declined to give details about the party.
The agreement to rent the estate includes a stipulation that alcohol cannot be served but has no mechanism to enforce that rule.
Contact the writer: kwind@timesshamrock.com