KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When you're thinking about all the fats, grease and oils that goes along with cooking a big meal, KC Water is urging people to freeze that grease and throw it out.
Pouring grease down the drain with hot water or soap does not help.
"Grease will still settle down, once the water goes," KC Water Utilities Cleaning Supervisor, Terrance Buckman said. "It'll get cold and hard and overtime it'll block your private line or get out into the main line where it blocks the line where it could cause a problem not only for your house, but the whole neighborhood."
Grease that is accumulated in the pipes causes other material and debris start sticking to it, which could cause a backup to your private line and the main line, disrupting the neighborhood.
"We can have an overflow where it's grease where it comes out of the sewer lines, that gets into the storm lines, that goes into the lakes and ponds, now they're contaminated, now we have to work on getting them back to their natural state," Buckman said.
KC Water Senior Engineering Technician, Amir Kenner says to fix the issue, it takes high velocity cleaner nozzles to get it out.
"It can adhere to the walls, collect against the walls and then cause a restrictional flow, which minimizes the diameter of the pipe, and then you have solids and other materials that collects against it, which causes a backup," Kenner said.
To tackle all the grease that gets into the main line, KC Water crews use a grease nozzle that spins and knocks off hardened grease particles along the top and sides.
"They're loose now, so when it's heavy water coming, it can push it out," Buckman explained.
The best thing to do is put the leftover grease in a container and freeze it.
There is a place to dispose the containers. You can take them to the Household Hazardous Waste Facility located at 4707 Deramus Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri 64120.
It is open Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
