Sewer Use Program 

In accordance with county, state and federal regulations, the Town of Leesburg is required to identify, locate and evaluate industrial and commercial sanitary sewer users to determine the compatibility of sanitary sewer discharges to the Town’s publicly owned treatment works.

Based on information provided by users on a Pretreatment Survey Form, the Town decides the type of approval to be issued for discharges to the sanitary sewer.  All dischargers must comply with the Town’s Sewer Use Ordinance.

What is FOG?

FOG is an acronym for Fats, Oils and Grease that are deposited into the sanitary sewer system. FOG comes from meat fats in cooking and food scraps, cooking oil, shortening, lard, butter and margarine, gravy, and food products such as mayonnaise, salad dressings, sour cream and other foods high in fat. 

The Impact of FOG

FOG poured down kitchen drains accumulates inside sewer pipes. When FOG enters the sanitary sewer system, it can harden in the pipe and cause blockages resulting in Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO’s). FOG also reduces the capacity of the system and is detrimental to the wastewater treatment process. The result is that a considerable amount of money is spent every year removing the build-up of fats, oils, and grease.

Manholes can overflow into parks, yards, streets, and storm drains, allowing FOG to contaminate local waters, including drinking water.

How to Correctly Dispose of FOG

• Pour and wipe grease from cooking into a can, let it cool, and throw it in the trash.
• Recycle all used fryer oils.
• Perform regular inspection, cleaning and maintenance on your grease trap or interceptor.
• Follow Best Management Practices (BMP's) and train staff.

You can find the Town’s FOG ordinance in Town Code Chapter 34.1.

To ensure compliance with town standards, the Environmental Compliance Inspector inspects food service establishments and non residential facilities annually.

If you have any questions please contact the Town's Environmental Compliance Inspector at 703-737-7956 or email.