A first in North America
Miami Dade County, FL is set to become the first jurisdiction in North America to incorporate monitoring devices into the County’s Fats, Oils and Grease (FOG) Control ordinance (expected rollout date in Q4, 2017).
FOG from the food service and processing sector is the primary cause of sanitary sewer overflows in North America. Blockages can result in overflow onto city streets, businesses and threaten clean water infrastructures. Each year, millions of dollars are allocated to the removal of FOG blockages in sewer systems. These crises are not only costly for municipalities and businesses, they pose a great health and environmental risk to communities,
The implementation of IoT technology is a natural and necessary step towards providing actionable data for wastewater regulation. Additionally, this adoption will allow the County to meet the requirements of Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory Consent Decree.
As Municipalities enforce stricter regulations and penalties to reduce the amount of FOG that enters city wastewater systems, this is an opportune time for industrial food manufacturers and food service establishments to optimize their current grease management practices and reduce the high cost of disposing of FOG.
Integration of smart meter technologies a cost saving opportunity
The proposed FOG Control ordinance outlines the integration of smart meter technologies, Interceptor Monitoring Devices (IMD) and Interceptor Monitoring Alarms (IMA) which provide cloud based monitoring and the transmission of data to Miami Dade County regulators. The ordinance mandates facilities with interceptors to a minimum of one pump out every 60 days, an expense that yields high operational and maintenance costs. Whereas, facilities that integrate smart meters into their interceptors will be permitted to schedule one pump out every 180 days which presents a potential significant cost saving opportunity.
Long-term savings guaranteed with FOGWISE™
ECOInsight Instruments developed FOGWISE™ a smart meter technology that allows restaurants, food processors, and institutions to optimize their FOG management processes. FOGWISE offers a centralized solution with an integrated GIS component for municipalities, industrial food manufacturers and foodservice establishments to closely monitor their grease interceptors by providing real time data in FOG management.
The integration of FOGWISE wireless grease monitors will result in interceptor maintenance cost reduction, minimize the likelihood of business interruption due to sewer backups and overflows, and also protect the environment and municipality infrastructure. More importantly, FOGWISE fulfills all the Interceptor Monitoring Devices (IMD) requirements. This would allow the FOGWISE equipped facilities to have less frequent Grease Interceptor pump-outs and benefit from significant long-term savings.
The proposed ordinance is very unique in that while protecting Miami Dade’s wastewater infrastructure, the mandate will be very fair to the various industrial food manufacturers and food service establishment stakeholders.
With a successful role out in southern Florida, it is anticipated that interest in IMDs will spread to other jurisdictions that are battling the challenges of FOG in their sewer systems.
