Why FOG in a storm drain is a landlord problem
Municipal stormwater rules — under NPDES MS4 in every South Florida city — hold the property owner responsible for what discharges from the site's storm structures. A grease slick coming out of an outfall doesn't get traced to the taco place; it gets traced to the parcel. When Miami-Dade RER or a Broward city inspector opens a case, the letter goes to the deed-holder. The tenant's mop-bucket habit becomes your NOV.
Where FOG actually enters the storm system
- Dumpster pad drains that were plumbed to storm instead of sanitary (very common on 1990s builds)
- Kitchen mop water dumped in the parking lot near a curb inlet
- Overflowing exterior grease bins during a hauler-miss week
- Fryer oil transfers on a rainy day — one careless pour and the whole lot carries it to the inlet
The cadence that keeps a restaurant pad off the enforcement list
- Quarterly catch basin cleaning on any inlet within 100 ft of a kitchen exterior — non-negotiable.
- Annual CCTV of the lateral running from the pad to the receiving structure — FOG hardens on pipe walls and cleaning becomes exponentially harder past a certain thickness.
- Post-hauler-miss spot inspection — every time the tenant's grease hauler skips a pickup, walk the exterior bin area.
Split the cost cleanly in the lease
Modern leases assign "grease-adjacent stormwater maintenance" to the food-service tenant via CAM or a direct pass-through. If you don't have that clause, you're absorbing quarterly costs the tenant caused. It's a small addendum and worth putting on the next renewal.
When the pipe is already coated
A FOG-lined lateral won't come clean with a vactor alone. It takes hydro jetting — often with a warm-water rig on stubborn cases — to shave the grease off the pipe wall so the vactor can pull it out at the receiving structure. Priced per foot; typical restaurant lateral runs 40–80 ft. See hydro jetting cost, our sewer line jetting service, and the jetting vs vactor guide.
