Buckeye City Code 16-10-2: grease interceptor size, upkeep and records for restaurants

The section opens with the trigger. Grease, oil and sand interceptors or traps "shall be provided when, in the opinion of the water resources department, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease and/or oil in excessive amounts or any flammable wastes, sand and other harmful ingredients." The exception: interceptors are not required for private living quarters or dwelling units.

Then six rules follow:

• Size and installation. When installed, interceptors or traps "shall be sized and installed in accordance with the city's building and plumbing code requirements" (B)(2).
• Construction. Impervious material that can handle abrupt and extreme temperature changes, substantial construction, watertight, with easily removable covers that are gastight and watertight when bolted in place (B)(3).
• Upkeep. The owner maintains the interceptor "in continuously efficient operation at all times," at the owner's expense (B)(4).
• No dissolving additives. The use of chemicals, bacteria or other agents to dissolve grease or oil, or to clean interceptors or traps, "is specifically prohibited" (B)(4).
• Capacity. The quote above: 750 to 2,500 gallons unless the director approves otherwise (B)(5).
• Records. The owner keeps written records of all cleaning, repair, calibration and maintenance needed to show compliance, at the facility for at least three years, available to an authorized employee of the water resources department on request (B)(6).

Section 16-10-1(C) adds a plan step: detailed plans for pretreatment facilities and operating procedures are submitted to the director for review and "shall be acceptable to the director before such facilities are constructed."

• Excessive amounts. Not defined. The water resources department's opinion decides whether your kitchen crosses the line.
• Building and plumbing code requirements. Buckeye adopts the 2024 International Plumbing Code in 15-2-4. The city's amendments to it change Chapters 1, 3, 4 and 6 only (administration and fees, building sewer depth, drinking fountains, and fixture flow rates). None change Chapter 10 of the model code, which is the chapter on traps, interceptors and separators. For interceptor sizing, my reading is that this points to the model code's own chapter plus the 750 to 2,500 gallon limits in 16-10-2.
• Director. The section uses both "director" and "water resources department." It does not define either term in this section, so ask the department who signs off on an approval.

Any Buckeye user whose wastewater carries grease or oil, flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients in excessive amounts, and the department finds an interceptor necessary. In practice that is restaurants and other commercial kitchens. It does not cover private living quarters or dwelling units.

It does not tell you how often to pump. This section has no calendar, only "continuously efficient operation at all times."

A new restaurant in a Buckeye strip center. The department decides an interceptor is necessary. The size comes from the plumbing code requirements, and it still has to fall in the 750 to 2,500 gallon range unless the director approves a different one.

A small bakery. Its kitchen calculates well under 750 gallons. The text of (B)(5) still sets 750 as the minimum, so the owner would need the director's approval for anything smaller.

The edge case. An owner starts dosing the interceptor with a bacteria product to stretch the time between cleanouts. In Buckeye that is the one thing the section bans by name, so the dosing stops even if the interceptor looks clean.

1. 1Ask Buckeye's water resources department whether it has found an interceptor necessary for your kitchen (B)(1).
2. 2Get the size from the plumbing code requirements and confirm it sits between 750 and 2,500 gallons, or ask the director for approval in writing before you build.
3. 3Submit the detailed plans and wait for the director's acceptance before construction (16-10-1(C)). The city's main line at City Hall, 530 E. Monroe Ave., is 623-349-6000, and The Landing office at 945 N. 215th Ave. Suite 137 is 623-349-6200.
4. 4After startup, set a cleaning schedule that keeps the interceptor working at all times. The code gives no day count, and neighboring cities do (180 days in Goodyear and Glendale, for example).
5. 5Start the record file on day one: date, what was cleaned or repaired, and who did it, kept at the facility for at least three years.

HQ Plumbing & Air repairs and inspects grease interceptors, and a separate pumper empties them first.

• Myth: the code sets a pumping schedule. It does not. It sets an outcome (continuous efficient operation) and a record rule.
• Myth: enzyme dosing is a legal substitute for cleaning. Section 16-10-2(B)(4) prohibits the product use outright.
• Myth: bigger is always safer. The 2,500 gallon ceiling applies unless the director approves otherwise.
• Myth: the 500-gallon floor used in Mesa and Goodyear applies here. Buckeye's floor is 750.

The text above comes from Buckeye City Code 16-10-1, 16-10-2 and 15-2-4 on Municode, read on 2026-10-04. This page explains those sections, and the official text governs.