About
Oil / Water Separators are required at repair garages, gasoline stations with grease racks, grease pits, work racks, and at factories where oily liquid waste is produced. All oil-bearing and grease-bearing wastes must be discharged into oil / water separators before entering any building drainage system or any other point of disposal leading to the city’s sewer. An oil / water separator is a receptacle that separates oil and / or any mixture of light and heavy liquids (such as petroleum hydrocarbons in water) using the various specific gravities of the liquids.
Business owners must install oil / water separators following the specific requirements set forth in the NYC Administrative Code, Titles 26 and 27 linked below under Additional Information. These requirements can also be found in the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB), Building Code, Reference Standards 16: Plumbing, Drainage and Gas Piping and Local Law 2007/033, Enacting the New York City Construction Codes linked below.
Additional resources
NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
Division of Pollution Control Monitoring
59-17 Junction Boulevard, 2nd Floor BWT
Flushing NY 11373
For further assistance, please call 311 and ask for: Oil / Water Separators