OCALA, FL (352today.com) – It’s Sunday morning. You’ve just finished cooking breakfast, and without a second thought, you pour that warm, liquid bacon grease down the kitchen sink. It seems harmless until you follow it on its journey beneath the City of Ocala’s streets.
Down in the cool, dark sewer pipes, that grease begins to change. It solidifies like candle wax, clinging to the walls of the underground infrastructure. Day after day, as more residents do the same, those greasy layers build up. Add in a splash of cooking oil from Tuesday’s dinner, a few “flushable” wipes, and suddenly you’ve got a monster on your hands: a fatberg, a rock-hard mass of fats, oils, and grease (FOG) that can grow as large as a one-hundred-foot mass.
Water Resources Department crews suit up regularly to battle these underground beasts. Armed with high-pressure hoses and specialized equipment, they work to chip away at the backup, clearing blockages that could shut down entire neighborhoods and businesses. But this isn’t just a utility issue. It’s a community issue.
Imagine waking up to the sound of gurgling water, only to find raw sewage bubbling up through your shower drain. It’s a nightmare scenario, but it’s exactly what happens when FOG clogs the pipes serving your home. When wastewater can’t move forward, it moves backward into your bathroom, across your floors, and into your belongings. The result? Contaminated homes, costly cleanups, and a serious health hazard. And it doesn’t stop at your doorstep. Blockages can cause sewage to spill into streets, parks, and public spaces, polluting the environment and threatening the health of our families.
When a FOG emergency strikes, it’s all hands on deck. At 2 a.m., a team of Water Resources Department workers may be called out to locate the blockage, suit up in protective gear, and deploy vacuum trucks and high-pressure jets to clear the pipes. A single response can take four to eight hours, with costs mounting quickly from labor, equipment, and potential pipe repairs. Multiply that by the dozens of FOG-related blockages handled each year, and you’re looking at significant taxpayer dollars diverted from where Ocala needs them most.
FOG doesn’t just threaten the pipes. It threatens our water source. When blockages cause overflows, untreated sewage can reach the aquifer that supplies Ocala’s drinking water. Protecting the pipes means protecting our most precious natural resource. The solution starts by providing our residents with convenient options for proper grease disposal.
We’re making it easier than ever to dispose of your cooking grease properly. Join us for our annual Grease Collection Day on Saturday, Nov. 29, at Water Reclamation Facility #2 (4200 SE 24th St., Ocala, FL 34470) and Ocala Wetland Recharge Park (2105 NW 21st St., Ocala, FL 34470) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Can’t make it? No problem. Starting Dec. 1, the City of Ocala will host monthly Grease Collection Days on the first Tuesday of every month at Water Reclamation Facility #2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Properly disposing of grease protects your home from backups, helps us be responsible stewards of city resources, and helps preserve our drinking water supply. It’s an easy choice with real impact.