Press Release

03 Feb 2010 - Cranfield conference to discuss £5 million drainage problems

Cranfield is hosting a specialist conference aimed at educating professionals in the management of drainage systems.

The event on 24 March will instruct waste, water, catering, public health and environmental professionals on how to remove fats, oils and greases (FOGs) from drains – a problem that currently costs over £5 million each year to clear in the Anglian region alone.

Sponsored by Anglian Water, the conference, entitled ‘FOGs build up removal – problems and solutions’, is open to all those involved in the legislation and control of FOGs, and those responsible for the selection and installation or manufacture of treatment and removal equipment. Industry and academic experts from the UK, Ireland and America will be reporting on the technological innovations to reduce the environmental impact of such things.

Fats, oils and greases are responsible for 75% of the 200,000 drain blockages throughout the UK every year, while Water UK estimates that about £15 million is spent annually on reactive blockage clearance nationwide, with further costs for clean-up after flooding incidents.

However, it is not hard to understand why this has become a problem as their production for cooking has trebled since the 1960s and hundreds of thousands of litres are used every week; often being disposed of incorrectly and ending up in the public sewers.

The conference has been created for professionals from a wide range of disciplines including utility managers, regulators, facilities managers, developers and planners, consultants, contractors, researchers and postgraduate students. Speakers include experts from Purdue University and North Carolina State University in the US, Dublin City Council, Water UK and the Environment Agency. In particular, presentations will cover current academic innovations, the impact of legislation and examples of successful applications of new processes and technology.

Michael O’Dwyer from Dublin City Council and Philip Soden from Compliance Consulting will provide an example of how the introduction of a licensing scheme helped to overcome some of the problems caused by FOGs. The council’s Drainage Division now limits the amount of discharge into the drainage system by issuing licenses under the Water Pollution Act to Food Service Establishments (FSE) in the city. These licenses require the individual outlet to limit the amount of FOGs they can dispose of down the drains.

Long established technology such as grease traps, which are already widely used in the industry and developments in bio augmentation, are assisting FSEs in achieving compliance with these limit conditions. 

To register for the event or for more information please visit www.cranfield.ac.uk/sas/fogs

ENDS

Further information

Cranfield University is a wholly postgraduate institution with a worldwide reputation for excellence and expertise in aerospace, automotive, defence, engineering, environment and water, health, management and manufacturing.  The University is made up of the following Schools: Cranfield Health, School of Management, School of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering, and Cranfield Defence and Security at Shrivenham.  For more information visit www.cranfield.ac.uk 


For further information please contact: Fiona Siebrits, Press and Publications Manager, Cranfield University, tel: +44 (0) 1234 758040.

Press release number: PR-01-10-SAS