Grease Traps

Commercial Requirements

The Benbrook Water Authority (BWA) requires some commercial facilities to install and maintain grease or grit traps. These include:

  • Automotive repair facilities
  • Commercial laundries and laundromats
  • Food service establishments
  • Vehicle washing facilities

In order to protect the wastewater collection system, BWA has the right to require any commercial facility that it deems necessary to install and maintain grease or grit traps. For more information on grease and grit trap requirements, please contact Belinda Pattison at 817-443-3116 or BPattison@BenbrookWater.com.

Food Service Establishments

Food service establishments are a major source of grease in BWA’s wastewater collection system. Grease, if not properly managed, can increase system maintenance costs and contribute to flooding and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Accordingly, BWA has determined that it is appropriate to regulate the discharges from Food Service Establishments through a wastewater discharge permit. These permits establish legally binding requirements for the regulated entities, ensuring that owners or managers:

  • Install appropriately sized and designed treatment equipment
  • Maintain grease traps at prescribed frequencies
  • Use permitted transportation and disposal companies
  • Maintain all required documentation
  • Do not exceed wastewater quality discharge limits
  • Do not discharge hazardous wastes
  • Inspect for seepage or overflow
  • Clean up and report spills or overflows

Any establishment where food is manufactured, packaged, produced, processed, transported, stored, sold, commercially prepared, vended, or otherwise handled, must obtain a wastewater discharge permit. This includes any such place regardless of the duration of the permit or whether there is a charge for the food.

In addition to restaurants, this includes facilities operating as a caterer, a commissary, a food processing establishment, a mobile food unit, a retail food store or a temporary food service establishment. Private homes where food is prepared or served for guests and individual family consumption are excluded.

More Information

For more information about wastewater discharge permits and requirements, please contact Belinda Pattison at 817-443-3116 or BPattison@BenbrookWater.com.