"Can the Grease" this holiday season

Protect the environment and your plumbing pipes

The Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department (WASD) would like to remind you that in order protect the environment and to avoid a potentially costly repair bill, you shouldn't dispose cooking grease or oil down your kitchen drain.

The grease or oil poured into a kitchen or other drain (even toilet) can harden inside your home’s plumbing pipes, leading to a clog and sewage backing up into your home. This means you have to call someone to your house to repair the damage and this could be very expensive during the holiday season.

At the same time, a build-up could occur in WASD’s infrastructure that can cause larger scale sewer line breaks or area pump stations to fail, which would impact large areas of communities. In only one year, WASD recorded 633 blockages from improper items being disposed of down drains or flushed down toilets that resulted in nearly $450,000 in labor and equipment repairs.

WASD is in the midst of a 15-20-year Capital Improvement Program that will improve and or replace thousands of miles of pipes, pump stations and treatment plants. We are asking to partner with our customers to make a few minor changes to their routines at home and at the office that will have a tremendous impact to our infrastructure that will lengthen its lifespan and increase its service capacity to you, said WASD Director Lester Sola.

The best way to dispose grease or oil is to pour them into a metal can or a heat-resistant oven bag, let it cool a few minutes, and then throw it in the trash. Don't forget to scrape or wipe as much food as possible off dishes and pans before putting them to wash in the sink or dishwasher to reduce the amount of grease that enters the home’s pipes.

For more information on how to “Can the Grease,” and to find out what not to flush, please click here.