Have you ever had a sleepless night? Tossing and turning and thinking about hospital grease trap maintenance? Technology has produced so many gadgets, equipment, and practices that efficiently help man in every endeavor he does. As years go by, more and more of these innovations are gaining the “no maintenance” feature that every consumer would love to have. If the item doesn’t need maintenance at all, then it will save money. It would be great when you sit and do your budget because you won’t have to think of maintenance bills anymore. “No maintenance” or “Maintenance-free” is something that you usually see attached to engines or car batteries but not all the time. If it’s free of any kind of maintenance, then it will eventually fail. Technology is still man-made and tends to fail from time to time.
In the hospital, maintaining a pristine state of health is a must. All staff that work in the hospital setting need to have immunizations to protect themselves from possible infections. They maintain cleanliness and as much as possible to stop the chain of contamination. But even with these efforts, the hospital is still seen as a cause for one of the most alarming environmental problems in the US today—FOG (fats, oils, grease) overflow. The hospital discards huge amounts of grease and solid materials through the drains. Poor maintenance is also a factor as to why hospitals are now regarded as major FOG contributors.
The government has already created the grease ordinance or the pretreatment ordinance. This mandates all hospitals to install grease traps within their premises. The traps should have permits issued by the Department of City Sewer. Maintenance and inspection should also be done on a regular basis. Pump outs for small, indoor grease traps should be done monthly. Pump outs for large outdoor grease traps should be done quarterly. But hospital administrations know better than allowing the risk of paying large fines and facing environmental lawsuits. So they have their grease traps pumped out every week. Weekly pump outs are very costly and if the hospital is having budget constraints already, a bigger grease trap would be better.
Hospital grease trap maintenance is a big responsibility and it should be shared by everyone who works in hospitals. These healthcare facilities produce heavy loads of FOG because of the connective tissues and grease materials from the hospital kitchen. If there is lack of maintenance, the FOG overflows and mixes in with the untreated effluent. FOG then solidifies and sticks to the pipe walls. Eventually, the FOG completely obstructs the flow of wastewater. Wastewater then backs up into the hospital and onto the surrounding environment. Using chemicals and enzymes could also be a form of poor maintenance because making use of them will yield the exact same result as not pumping out the grease trap. It can really be just a waste of time, effort, and budget if enzymes and chemicals are used to clean grease traps in hospitals. These medical facilities do not need even a tiny bit of contamination. They should be protected against it instead.
If bacteria are used in hospital grease trap maintenance, then there will be less maintenance. But maintenance should still be performed. There is no such thing as a “maintenance-free” grease trap.
Bacteria are very resilient and persistent microorganisms. They have survived a lot of natural and man-made disasters. They have a very huge appetite for anything that will help them gain the nutrients they need to survive and reproduce. With their traits, they are ideal in hospital grease trap maintenance. Bioremediation is the process that uses non-pathogenic bacteria in converting the contaminants and FOG into substances that are less harmful. Bio-augmentation is the process that makes use of a strain of bacteria that consumes the solid wastes and FOG. With bacteria at the hospital’s disposal, the grease traps will surely be more efficient in collecting and separating grease materials from untreated effluent; the wastewater treatment facility will remain safe from clogs; and contamination will be prevented as well.
