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City of Richmond working hard to clear the FOG

Theres still a heck of a lot of FOG in Richmond, but its starting to clear, thanks to a bylaw introduced last year. The FOG (fat, oil and grease) battle in Richmonds sewer system has long been fought by the city, with varying degrees of success.

Theres still a heck of a lot of FOG in Richmond, but its starting to clear, thanks to a bylaw introduced last year.

The FOG (fat, oil and grease) battle in Richmonds sewer system has long been fought by the city, with varying degrees of success.

But a report placed before city council this week suggested that a new rule introduced last year which required restaurants to install and maintain grease traps in the kitchens is being complied with by the citys eateries.

"To date, there appears to be a high compliance rate with this bylaw," the citys engineering planning manager, Lloyd Bie, said in his report to council.

Out of the 900 or so restaurants in the city, a total of 193 were inspected in the first six months of this year and only three were found not to have the grease traps.

The $870,000 it cost to fix a main sewer completely blocked by FOG at Lansdowne Road in the city centre earlier this year served as another wake-up call for the city and its restaurants.

As well as inspecting restaurants, the city is still in the process of trying to educate residents about clogging up the sewer system with FOG, a growing concern for the city, according to Bie.

To deal with the ongoing issue and to avoid a repeat of the Lansdowne Road clog, city staff want to spend up to $750,000 each year from 2012 to 2016 on improvements to the sanitary system, including the installation of pressure monitors, forcemain inspection and remediation.