City of Austin, Chapter 15-10
Austin's grease trap rules, by section number.
Four requirements every food-service location in Austin is held to, in plain words, each linked to Austin Water. Read 4 November 2026.
01
Pump at least every 90 days § 15-10-197
Every grease trap and interceptor is pumped at least once every 90 days.
Sooner if grease and solids together reach 50% of the wetted height, measured from the bottom of the trap to the invert of the outlet pipe.
02
Only a permitted liquid waste hauler § 15-10-197
The waste is removed and transported only by a liquid waste hauler holding a valid City of Austin permit.
Whoever services your traps under a Quarterline request must hold that permit. It is the hauler’s permit, not Quarterline’s.
03
Keep the manifest on site, three years § 15-10-165
After each pump-out the hauler’s manifest is kept on site for three years.
The City publishes an example manifest. An inspector can ask for any of them at the location.
04
Each miss is its own violation Chapter 15-10, Article 12
Each requirement not met is a separate violation.
A late pump-out and a missing manifest at the same location are two violations, not one.
What "50% of the wetted height" means
The wetted height is measured from the bottom of the trap to the invert of the outlet pipe, the lowest point of the pipe's inside where water leaves. When the floating grease and the settled solids together reach half of that height, the trap is due, even if 90 days have not passed § 15-10-197.
- 1 Inlet from the kitchen
- 2 Inlet baffle, slowing the flow
- 3 Grease, floating
- 4 Water
- 5 Solids, settled
- 6 Outlet invert: the top of the wetted height
- 7 Wetted height, bottom of the trap to the outlet invert
- 8 Half the wetted height. Grease plus solids at this line means pump now.
Drawing for explanation, not to scale. Trap designs vary.
The manifest
After every pump-out the hauler leaves a manifest, its record of what was removed from your trap. The City requires it kept on site for three years § 15-10-165. At a 90-day frequency that is at least twelve manifests per trap on file at any time, and more at shorter frequencies.
The City publishes an example: City of Austin, example liquid waste hauler manifest (PDF). Check that each one you are handed names your location and the date of service, and file it where a manager can find it when an inspector asks.
Who may pump it
The City requires every pump-out to be done by a liquid waste hauler holding a valid City of Austin permit (§ 15-10-197). Whoever services your traps under this request must hold that permit. Quarterline arranges and coordinates the service; the hauler who pumps holds the permit.
Pumping less often than 90 days
Austin Water's Grease Trap Relief Program page notes that data may support a variance to pump less often than every 90 days. A variance is Austin Water's to grant, not a hauler's or Quarterline's. If one of your locations holds one, say so in the note on your request, so the calendar proposed for that trap follows it. The board still flags anything over 90 days, because that is the City's default ceiling.
Put your locations on the board
See every trap in your group against the 90-day ceiling, with the manifests it adds up to, from your own figures.