Restaurants that thwart waste disposal regulations risk losing their licence, according to Health and Environment Minister Trevor Moniz.

Government has implemented the crackdown after waves of sewage washed up on a number of south shore beaches in recent weeks.

The potentially hazardous greaseballs — a combination of sewage and grease — have been pumped out to sea from the Hamilton Seabright sewage pipeline. But under certain weather conditions they are washed back to shore.

Updating Parliamentarians on the situation yesterday, Mr Moniz reiterated that tests carried out twice a week have repeatedly shown that water quality meets US safety standards.

“However, that does not mean that, as the regulator, I am content to have the operators of our waste disposal system continue to operate as they have in the past. It is obvious to me that improvements must be made,” Mr Moniz said.

“Keeping grease out of the sewer is a legal duty for premises and establishments that are connected to the Hamilton sewage system, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the city limits.

“The Chamber of Commerce restaurant division and the city engineer met together last week to have dialogue on the Fats, Oils and Greases [FOG] policy and attendees were receptive to the need to implement greater controls on injurious sewage such as grease.”

Mr Moniz said the issue was “critical” for Bermuda because “whenever grease bypasses the Front Street screening station and combines with sewage in the City of Hamilton sewer main, it can form greaseballs that greatly increase the distance that contaminants can travel and increases the risk that it may be blown onshore and ruin Bermuda’s image of pristine pink sand beaches”.

Mr Moniz said that restaurants would be required to install grease traps and interceptors “and keep logs to assure that the required separation is occurring”.

“The Department of Health will introduce a portable meter and testing system that will monitor compliance by sampling establishment waste water,” the Minister said.

“Non-compliance will result in action, and verification of FOG compliance will become a condition of annual food establishment licensing administered by the Department of Health.”

Mr Moniz said businesses were expected to be complaint with the law by July.

During a later question-and-answer period, Mr Moniz stressed that restaurants would face closure if they do not follow guidelines.

“If someone is in breach they will not receive their licence next year,” Mr Moniz said, adding it was essential “to make sure that restaurants are doing what they’re supposed to be doing”.

Mr Moniz said that private citizens across the Island “can contribute to this effort and do their part”.

“When grease goes down the drain and causes a blockage, it is likely that the sanitation truck that removes that grease will put it into the City of Hamilton’s sewerage system via the Tynes Bay septage facility,” he said.

“Grease is a Bermuda-wide problem to address and, as a first step, we must address it at source.”

Mr Moniz also announced a number of planned operational improvements and technological upgrades to reduce the problem.

He said that grease was being vacuumed off waste water treatment plant wells at the Front Street screening plant and Tynes Bay septage plant.

Ministerial instructions have been drafted by technical officers to require improved performance in sewage plants operated by the Corporation of Hamilton and the Ministry of Public Works. Performance targets and compliance time frames are being “fine-tuned”, the Minister said.

And Mr Moniz said that both the Front Street and Tynes Bay plants had been “identified as strong candidates for re-engineering”.

“Suitable rotary belt filters may be available in the medium term for placement in key parts of the system to improve grease and solids removal in an accelerated fashion and as an interim measure, without having to wait for the possible construction of a new sewage treatment plant from scratch, which will take years,” Mr Moniz said.

He added that sewage treatment at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital was scheduled “to come fully online within the next couple of weeks”.

“This plant will remove solids and greases and, when added to the system, will significantly dilute and improve the wastewater being discharged at the outfall,” he said.

The Minister also announced the formation of a committee to advise him on short, medium and long term solutions to the problem.