Saratoga News

Grease trap overflows, posing danger to creek

Restaurant owner was not cited

By Ryan Ozimek

A plugged 1,500-gallon grease trap at the Plumed Horse restaurant created a slippery situation on Fourth Street off Big Basin Way last week.

At about 4:20 p.m. Aug. 19, Plumed Horse owner Klaus Pasche noticed that a grease spill had occurred. Pasche said it was caused when grease and water were forced out of a manhole in the pipeline that connects the restaurant's grease trap with the sewage line.

The slippery mixture then flowed down a small sloped grade, spreading a layer of grease across the parking lot near the manhole and down the side street into a storm drain.

After recognizing what had happened, Pasche called the maintenance business that had cleaned the restaurant's grease line the day before. He then returned to the parking lot with a hose to spray the grease away from cars.

"The public's safety was the first thing on my mind," Pasche said. "The grease was really slippery, and I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

As he sprayed the grease away with the hose, however, he pushed the sludge into a storm drain at the bottom of the slope. Saratogan Walter Kool, who was bicycling in the area, informed Pasche that the storm drain ran diverted water into the Saratoga Creek, just across the road.

"I saw him doing this, and I couldn't believe it," Kool said. "He was pushing all of that grease into the storm drain that leads directly into the creek."

When Pasche heard this, he reportedly stopped spraying and asked his workers to scoop up the sludge with shovels and brooms before it reached the storm drain.

Kool called the fire department, using a nearby pay telephone.

Within an hour, fire, sheriff, city, waste management, deputy district attorney and fish and game officials were on the scene. The cleanup took about four hours, as workers unclogged the plug and sucked dry the spill area using large vacuum-like machines.

Kool and other residents expressed concern whether the creek had been contaminated by the grease that had flowed in through the storm drain.

Jennifer Britton-Hanlon, assistant to Saratoga City Manager Harry Peacock, said that Pasche was not cited for the spill. She said the city would follow through on whatever the Santa Clara County Environmental Health Department recommends.