From today’s Chronicle story about the yesterday’s downpour in the SF Bay Area:
Billowing winds and blustery rain bombarded the Bay Area on Thursday, backing up storm drains, forcing Union Square holiday shoppers to sidestep puddles and summoning forth the seasonal army of umbrella vendors.
And then:
The biggest problem, however, seemed to be a giant ball of grease beneath the streets of Chinatown that blocked drains and sent water into several store basements. …The Chinatown flooding was caused by a “huge grease ball” from neighborhood restaurants, according to Public Utilities Commission spokesman Tony Winnicker. “It’s the densest part of the city, with many restaurants,” he said. “For the entire summer and fall, the debris and grease build up. And this is the first time the system has really had to deal with it.” Sending grease down the drain is never a good idea, the PUC spokesman said. “Whatever you dump can come back to haunt you,” Winnicker said.
found by Wendy Taylor
Makes a great case for a bio-diesel refinery in Chinatown!
[Off Topic] Speaking of bombardments, heh…
Help cut off the legs of the Iraqi insurgency. Find out how at D.C. Hammer
This is strange. Recycling and re-using restaurant grease is big business in my mid-west state. I can’t believe these guys are just flushing it down the drain!
Nice photo. This is of a “Zorb”. There’s a place on the north island of New Zealand (near Rotorua) that has these; you squeeze into the inner sphere, have the guys dump in a few gallons of water (optional, and not in use in the photo), then get pushed down a hill. Your choice of straight down or zig-zag course.
Good fun. I went twice. Definitely more fun the first time not knowing what to expect.
http://www.zorb.co.nz/menu.html
The Oregonian ran an article (a couple months ago) about a similar problem in Portland.
They had pictures from a crawler/robot they use to inspect the main drains and find the big grease obstructions – and see which drains the grease is coming from, so they can track it to the idiots dumping the grease.
Around Seattle, restaurants are required to have grease traps in their sewer lines.
It is cheaper to dump it then recycle it. FYI they make dog and cat food out of it.All states and citys have rules against this.
Where is Gavin Newsome when you need him? … Either doing sound bites for TV News or Chasing the G&L vote and more donations for his future elections as usual.
Better yet, garym. tell the chinese restauranteurs to build the bio-diesel refinery. Methinks that diesel engines have to revert to their former injection methods where the fuel does not have to be too refined that farmers can feed vegetable oil directly into the tanks to make them run.
This was the concept that Rudolph Diesel wanted for the engine bearing his name, but guess what happened after his untimely demise? His engine was customized to accept what was then abundant petroleum from the middle east!