It’s a sound and smell that goes hand-in-hand with the holidays: Good ol’ fatty grease.
Besides being bad for your health, that fatty grease could also be bad for your wallet.
The city of San Diego warned residents to be careful cleaning up after meals, especially large ones like a Thanksgiving feast.
“People pour grease down their drain. They put stuff down their toilets, their sinks, that’s not supposed to be in there,” said Ron Newsome, a Senior Water Utility Supervisor.
Newsome said the grease cools and hardens and can eventually build up and block your pipes.
“If it goes undetected, eventually we’ll have a spill,” said Newsome. “You could get fined. It also could be an expensive repair for yourself.”
The San Diego Public Utilities Department has a fleet of 26 trucks called combination cleaners it uses to clean the sewer mains. Those crews go around the city year-round to clean blocked sewers.
They would like to avoid cleaning your grease, too.
“Your drippings, your turkey, anything that’s grease-related if you’re cooking; do not pour that down the drain,” said Newsome.
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He suggested using a glass jar, plastic bottle, or a can to collect the grease. Then, Newsome said to simply through the bottle away.
