nce upon a time, there was a city named Tucson, located in Pima County, Arizona.

Over 3,400 miles of sewer lines ran underneath the community, carrying used water from homes,

businesses and schools to nine treatment plants where that water was cleaned.

Most of the people didn’t think twice about where their dirty water went as they flushed toilets, took showers or brushed their teeth. It just magically disappeared!

But in the sewers of this great Tucson community lurked a monster...

The Grease Monster, who wreaked havoc on the community by clogging the sewers.

The Grease Monster and his roach buddies loved to play in the sewers, especially when there was lots of sticky grease to eat.

Roaches love greasy sewers, but grease can clog your pipes.

When your pipes got clogged, dirty water from toilets, sinks and washing machines backed up into streets, the environment and sometimes people’s homes.

This was disgusting, but it gave the Grease Monster great joy! He would invite his roach friends to these events, known as Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs for short) to make them even more disgusting and unhealthy!

This grossed out the good citizens of Tucson even more!

The Grease Monster and his roach partners terrorized the community.

But what could the good people of Tucson do to combat the dastardly Grease Monster and keep the nasty disease-spreading roaches in the sewers where they belong?

What could possibly slay the dastardly Grease Monster?

The simple PAPER TOWEL!

Here is what the citizens of Tucson did...

After pouring cooled kitchen grease into a tin can, they simply wiped out the grease.

By wiping pots, pans and plates with a paper towel before washing them and by placing the paper towel in the trash, the citizens were able to stop the dreaded monster.

WIPE OUT GREASY COOKWARE WITH A

PAPER TOWEL!

The citizens stopped pouring grease down the drain, because grease is a tasty treat for sewer roaches!

The grease also clogged pipes and made the Grease Monster even bigger!

TOSS YOUR GREASY PAPER TOWELS IN THE TRASH

POUR COOLED GREASE INTO AN OLD CAN AND

THROW IT AWAY

Used cooking grease can be recycled into biodiesel, a special fuel for some cars, trucks and buses.

You can find grease recyclers online.

Oil and grease can build up and clog pipes. Wastewater travels to the treatment plants by gravity and cannot flow if pipes are blocked.

Raw sewage backs up out of the closest manhole or plumbing fixture it finds, and that could be your bathtub, sink or toilet!

So make sure that you always wipe away grease and bits of food before you wash your dishes.

ICKY GREASE CLOGS SEWER PIPES!

ROACHES LOVE GREASE!DON’T FEED THE ROACHES!

Always wipe away grease and bits of food before you wash your dishes.

Never pour hot or cold grease and oils down your drain. Flushing grease with soap or hot water does NOT make it safe to pour down your drain!

Wipe out grease! Tame the Grease Monster!

...AND FOR GOODNESS SAKE, PLEASE DON’T FEED THE ROACHES!

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ACROSS

2. Grease in the sewer system will ____ sewer lines.

6. You’ll find the Grease Monster and his friends the sewer_____ at a Sanitary Sewer Overflow.

7. Sewer grease is a sewer roach’s favorite ____.

8. _____ that backs up onto streets is called Sanitary Sewer Overflow.

9. There are 3,400 ____ of sewer lines in Pima County.

10. It is _____okay to pour grease down the drain.

DOWN

1. The ______ monster lurks in our sewers.

3. _______ makes sewage flow to a wastewater treatment plant.

4. Keeping food ________ out of the drain is one way to avoid a Sanitary Sewer Overflow.

5. Empty cans and paper ______ can help avoid an overflow.

GREASY CROSSWORD PUZZLE!Puzzle Answers

Across: 2 clog 6 roaches 7 food 8 sewage 9 miles 10 never

Down: 1 grease 3 gravity 4 Particles 5 towels

TRY TO FIND AND CIRCLE THESE WORDS IN THE PUZZLE ABOVE...

In addition to grease, there are many different things you shouldn’t pour down the drain, such as toxic chemicals, automotive fluids, solvents and pesticides that are bad for the environment.

Z H Q V T Z R S T G H C W F N C X P S BI A Z X S T B D R W E S A S T W I M O GA Z J Y L Y G I S L B K S P E Q I P O QU A Y A K Y R U R W S Q T X V K K B U EQ R B D R P E L L Z I G E S E W E R J MP D D U H U A F I R R P W J K R D R N SF O Q G P X S O R Q P Y A D C I S I N KG U Q W D R E T O K F A T T Y F O O D SY S I L C Q M U O P O L E C I H S N E OM N X E M Y O A L K D O R O Y C O T U XU D R Y Z B N Q J M D R M A W N L B X NL F X T N E S B E L V B A C L L V E I IN V T W J S T E Q D Y E N Z O R E B I AA G E Z Y V E U X G L S A R V O N K E RS R K C M Q R H D F R E G N E N T J W DS E D I C I T S E P L P E H R S S R D CK R V W L E H Y L W H I M L F H O X U IN V X B D M Q T O T S P E S L C F A K XY A W H G X P C F N D A N H O Z O H S OZ I J M S T S W T O Y F T N W V T K V T

WORD FINDER PUZZLE!

grease monstergreasesewermanholepipestreatment plantstoilet

cloggingsanitary seweroverflowroachpaper towelkitchencookware

tin candrainoilsgravityblockages

W R N A O E T E S A P E E E N W S G L OO Y L O P B H E C N A O O E E R R Y I NL E M I T N L S R L O S T C R C P A W EF W A G O N Y O S E K T R N G S G M E RR S A E G E O A C W T S A R T L T T T IE I N P S W L E O K P R O W R E P T I LV S A L E O O D O O A A P T T W H I C TO H R R K O O R K T P G S R E A N L P RR K B H O C W M W S E W E R G P Y I E TE V O O C P G G A A R A I S L S W I E TW S I R S S R H R T T G I A N S F P M AE L T G R E A S E M O N S T E R T E G IS G S R A T V E E R W I R E B N O T E EY O P S O E I N A E E G L N E O C I O ER A E O E A T N N L L G G E K S G V T MA L B T S P Y T C E O O C N T A P T L AT I C G L A I R E A H L H E R E S G L NI W A A I A A P E P N C A T E S C G K TN T N I A R D E I A A P T S L O P S A RA T N G S O N L N O M T N I E N T E G RS I C O L S I I R R M M R W K E L C M E

©2014 Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department

201 N. STONE AVENUE, 8TH FLOOR TUCSON, ARIZONA 85701-1207

(520) 724-6500

PIMA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORSSharon Bronson, Chair, District 3

Ally Miller, District 1Ramón Valadez, District 2

Ray Carroll, District 4Richard Elías, District 5

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR C.H. Huckelberry