"Did You Ever Wonder," a la   Andy Rooney, What Happens When a Phone Call Comes into IDID?

But first, what is IDID?   Illicit Discharge and Improper Disposal is a program managed by employees of Fairfax County's Stormwater Planning Division. It's all about the MS4 permit and requires the county to implement a program to prohibit any individual non-stormwater discharge that is contributing a significant amount of pollutants to the county storm drainage system.

An IDID is the intentional or accidental release of non-stormwater materials that may enter the storm drainage system, streams or ponds by dumping, pouring, throwing, spilling, abandoning, negligent storage or through an illicit connection.

In other words,   "Only Rain Down the Storm Drain."

The "Only Rain" slogan is more than just a catchphrase. The county is required to prevent almost all types of pollution from entering storm drains including vehicle fluids, toxic wastes, motor oil, household hazardous wastes, pesticides, fats, oils and grease from restaurants, grass clippings, leaf litter, pet waste, oil, paint, chlorinated swimming pool water, residential and commercial laundry wastewater, commercial car, fleet and floor washing wastewater and sewage and septic tank effluent.

Grease stains often indicate illicit discharges and/or improper disposal (IDID).

So, this is how it works: a phone call (or an email) from a concerned resident, employee or visitor, comes to the Stormwater Planning Division which is immediately sent to either Takisha Cannon, ecologist, or to Emily Street or Cathy Roth, both code specialists with the IDID Program.

This particular call was about an employee of a restaurant in the Mosaic District in Merrifield who was seen and photographed pouring dirty kitchen water into a stormwater grate. Emily Street got the call, requested additional information from the resident and confirmed the location.

"I went to the restaurant with a goal to educate people about what can and cannot go down a storm drain," Emily said. "We don't want to punish people who may be unknowingly violating the stormwater ordinance.  We do want to educate them about the best ways to dispose of kitchen grease and dirty wash water," she said.

Not too long after the phone call from the resident, Emily arrived at the Mosaic parking garage, inspected the area for grease stains (didn't find any) and started to get curious as to what the material in the photo was.

"I decided to talk to the restaurant manager," Emily said. "So, I went into the restaurant

	A restaurant employee pours dirty kitchen water into a stormwater grate in a parking garage.

and explained what I was looking for." Apparently, the manager was new to the area and didn't understand so the head chef came out of the kitchen to help. "The chef explained that the dirty wash water had very little grease in it," Emily said. With or without grease, wash water likely contains soap and other substances that should not be deposited into a storm drain. "In most cases, floor mats, mops and the dirty water from cleaning the floor should go down a sink drain, and thus to a wastewater treatment plant." The grease and oils from cooking should go into a trap in the kitchen that is later cleaned and the contents disposed of properly.

  

"I explained the do's and do not's of disposing kitchen waste," Emily said, "and it required a fair amount of education, which was good because they wanted to learn and cooperate," she said. "I gave them the pollution prevention fact sheets and the food establishment brochure."

Returning to the office, Emily followed up by emailing the resident who made the report. "I thanked him for contacting us and explained what was in the bucket that he saw. It was just wash water, so the restaurant manager did not receive a corrective action notice. "Since this was their first offense, I took the opportunity to educate them and gave them a verbal warning," said Emily. When one of the code specialists gives a corrective action notice, they follow up with an additional inspection and the restaurant manager/owner must submit a plan to make sure his employees know how to dispose of kitchen grease and dirty wash water.

When Cathy or Emily issue action notices, their observations, the corrective action necessary, how to fix the problem and a deadline in which to complete the improvements are included in the notice. A day or two after the deadline passes one of the code specialists visits the establishment again to make sure their recommendations continue to be followed.

After one full year as a code specialist, Emily has this to say about her job: "One of the unexpected benefits of this job," Emily said, "is how my senses have improved. As I perform my regular inspections, my senses have helped me to track down where the discharges are."