Nothing says Thanksgiving dinner like turkey and dressing, cranberry sauce, and all the fixin’s.  But nothing defines the aftermath of Thanksgiving for wastewater professionals more than the unwelcome backups caused from excessive fats, oil and grease dumped down the drain by households across the community.  While cooking grease poured into kitchen sink drains is a problem year-round, many wastewater agencies find that Thanksgiving is an especially appropriate time to point out the hazards of these practices since the volume can increase dramatically on this one day a year.

Yuck, right?  But even yuckier is the cost to citizens of having to make repairs to sewer lines clogged with fats, oil and grease.  And yuckier still is the impact to the environment of sewer system overflows into streams and waterways.

So this Thanksgiving, think of the holiday as an opportunity  – not just to give thanks for your blessings, but to educate your customers about the infrastructure that contributes to their quality of life every single day.  Send out a special mailing, hold a themed-event, issue a creative press release, or schedule a presentation.  Talking about the impacts of fats, oil and grease is not an easy subject to draw attention to, so using a “hook” like the upcoming holiday is an opportunity not to be missed!