Editorial Process & Data Methodology

What We Publish

Every regulation page on Grease Trap Guru aggregates three structured data points for a single jurisdiction:

1. Regulatory facts sourced from municipal ordinances and state plumbing codes: pumping frequency, permit requirements, permit fees, maximum fines, 25 percent rule adoption, minimum trap size, inspection frequency, record-keeping requirements, plumbing code base (IPC or UPC), ordinance reference, and regulatory authority.
2. Economic context from the U.S. Census Bureau: food service establishment counts by city and county, using NAICS code 722 (Food Services and Drinking Places).
3. Contact information for the local wastewater utility, where available from the city's published FOG program.

Our Data Sources

We work exclusively from primary sources. We do not aggregate from secondary data brokers or compilations. For each city, the source tree is:

Tier 1 — Municipal Ordinance

The legally enforceable FOG rules for a city are in its municipal code. We read the actual code sections — for example, Houston Code of Ordinances Chapter 47, Los Angeles County Code Title 20, New York City Administrative Code §24-522. Each city page includes an Ordinance Reference field with the specific section cited.

Tier 2 — FOG Control Program Documents

Most wastewater utilities publish a FOG program document that interprets and operationalizes the ordinance: pumping schedules, permit fees, required hauler practices, inspection routines. These are linked in the Official Sources section of city pages where available.

Tier 3 — State Plumbing Code

The state-adopted plumbing code (International Plumbing Code or Uniform Plumbing Code) governs grease trap installation and sizing, independent of local FOG ordinances. We map the adopted code per state in our state regulations index.

Tier 4 — U.S. Census Bureau

Food service establishment counts come from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns (CBP) dataset, filtered on NAICS 722. This is the same dataset used by federal and state economic development agencies.

How We Verify Each Regulation

Our verification process for a regulation field goes through four steps:

1. Locate the primary source in the municipal code or FOG program document.
2. Extract the specific fact — e.g., "pumping every 90 days" or "$500 annual permit fee" — with a direct quote captured during research.
3. Verify context by reading adjacent sections to ensure the rule hasn't been superseded or modified.
4. Publish with citation to the ordinance reference so readers can verify independently.

Fields we cannot verify from a primary source are left as null (displayed as "Check locally") rather than guessed. This is the most important rule in our process: missing is better than wrong.

Update Cadence

Regulation data is reviewed on a rolling cycle:

• High-priority cities (top 40 by food service establishment count): reviewed every 6 months.
• Standard cities: reviewed every 12 months.
• Event-driven updates: immediately when readers report a change, when we detect a municipal code update, or when a news event references a regulatory change.

Every page carries a Last verified date in the disclaimer at the bottom. The site-wide dataset is versioned and timestamped in our dateModified schema property.

Correction Policy

We make mistakes. When we do:

1. Email us at info@greasetrapguru.com with the city, the field in question, and the correct source if you have it.
2. We re-verify from the primary source within 5 business days.
3. If the correction is confirmed, we update the data, refresh the dateModified timestamp, and submit the page to IndexNow for fast re-indexation.
4. Material corrections are noted on the page for 30 days after publication.

What We Don't Do

• We don't offer legal advice. This is a data aggregator. Always verify current rules with your local wastewater authority before making compliance decisions.
• We don't sell your data. Newsletter signups are used only to send regulation updates we think you'd want.
• We don't accept payment for placement. No city, hauler, or equipment vendor can buy a listing or a review.
• We don't scrape secondary aggregators. Every field on every page traces to a primary government source.

Editorial Team

Grease Trap Guru is produced by a small editorial team using municipal code research, pretreatment program documentation, and U.S. Census data. We don't claim personal operational expertise with grease traps — we claim expertise in finding, structuring, and verifying the public record that governs them. For operational expertise, always consult a licensed plumber, your local wastewater utility's FOG program officer, or a registered pretreatment inspector.

Why This Matters

FOG regulations are fragmented across thousands of municipal ordinances, state codes, and federal EPA pretreatment standards. For a restaurant owner, finding the exact rule that applies to a specific city typically means hours of navigating poorly organized municipal websites. Our editorial process exists to collapse that research into a single page per city — sourced, verified, and updated on a documented cadence. That's the entire value proposition.

Last updated: April 2026.