Westminster's 2024 Utilities Service Rules provide one of the clearest local FOG documents in the north metro. The City calls its program Fats, Oil, Grease and Grit (FOGG), distinguishes a large gravity grease interceptor from an internal hydro-mechanical grease interceptor, and sets maintenance, manifest, record, access, and additive rules. Westminster also says its wastewater system uses about 400 miles of pipe and treats more than 7 million gallons per day at Big Dry Creek. Treat the City's wastewater service area—not the county line—as the starting point for a restaurant address.
The City of Westminster Utilities Division administers the FOGG program for businesses in the City's wastewater service area and operates the Big Dry Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility. County environmental-health staff may inspect a retail food establishment, but that is a separate role from Westminster's sewer and FOGG requirements. Confirm the service area, device approval, and any property-specific direction with Westminster before installation or kitchen changes.
Westminster's quarterly and 25% requirements
The City's rules require FOGG retention devices to be cleaned no less than quarterly or as often as necessary to prevent FOGG from entering the sanitary sewer. They state that a gravity interceptor must be pumped completely at least every three months, and that combined grease and solids at or above 25% is non-compliant. The document says the City may evaluate this with a Dipstick Pro or electronic measuring device. This is a Westminster program rule, not a reason to claim that every Colorado municipality has the same threshold. Keep the service interval responsive to actual loading and any City direction.
Equipment, access, and kitchen changes
Westminster says a FOGG device must be accessible for inspection, cleaning, and removal, located at least five feet from an air intake, and generally outside an exterior wall; installation inside a building requires City approval. Commercial dishwashers must connect to a grease interceptor and may not connect to a hydro-mechanical device under the rules. Garbage grinders are discouraged and, where used commercially, require a large-particle trap and connection to the proper device. Before adding a dishwasher, floor drain, or fryer, report the change so the City can determine whether the existing device remains adequate.
Brown grease, yellow grease, and documentation
Westminster defines brown grease as FOG discharged to grease-control equipment and yellow grease as spent frying oil that has not contacted water, wastewater, or solid waste and can be recycled. The rules prohibit yellow grease from being discharged to a trap or interceptor. Pumpage from a gravity interceptor must be completely removed; dewatering or returning waste to an interceptor is prohibited. Waste removed from a device must go to a Colorado-approved receiving facility, and the City's rules require a manifest confirming pumping, hauling, and disposal. This documents a requirement; it does not make the City a public grease drop-off.
Local corridors and service access planning
Bradburn, Westminster Center, Sheridan Crossings, the 92nd Avenue corridor, Federal Boulevard, and Hyland Hills contain mixed-use centers, older storefronts, and large parking fields. For planning, identify the device's lids and cleanouts, secure property-manager permission for a truck, and schedule around loading and customer traffic. Keep the maintenance log and pumping manifest for the previous 36 months in a conspicuous location; the rules say the log must be immediately available to a City representative. These are practical steps for meeting the published program, not promises about a particular truck route.
