Now
- Stop the water. Plugs out, dish machine off, no mop buckets down any drain.
- Absorbent, not a hose. Grease water hosed to a floor drain goes into the interceptor that just overflowed, or past it to the lateral.
- Lift the lid. Grease at the outlet means the tank is full and over 25%; a thin cap with a backed-up floor means the blockage is downstream.
- Call and say what you saw. Pump-out or jetter is decided by that sentence.
If it reached the sewer
Stockton’s Municipal Utilities Department is at (209) 937-8700, with a 24-hour service center for sewer backups at (209) 937-8341. Damage to the sewer or treatment plant from a violation becomes a debt to the city, and a grease-caused blockage is grounds to suspend sewer service under Sec. 13.40.230. Reporting it yourself, with a same-day pump-out receipt, is the cheaper path in every column.
Write it down
The three-year file must include “records of any spills.” Date, time, what overflowed, where it went, what you did, who you called. One paragraph, stapled to the receipt.
Why it happened
The grease cap and solids took the volume the water needed. In Stockton that is a prohibited act before it is a plumbing problem: operating an interceptor over 25% full. The calculator finds the interval that keeps the floor dry.