In a city as “flat as a pancake,” 6,250 miles of sanitary sewer is a recipe for trouble. The main ingredient in that recipe is grease, says Bill Goloby, a project manager in the City of Houston (Texas) Wastewater Operations Branch. “Grease causes stoppages, and stoppages cause sanitary sewer overflows,” he explains. “And now that SSOs are being regulated, cities all over the country are starting to look at grease buildup and ways to reduce it. We’re looking at it harder than most.”Houston concentrated on weather-related SSOs because that was a reasonable place to start, according to supervising engineer Steven
