STORM WATER TREATMENT
Treatment of storm water has now become of importance to virtually all
businesses and municipalities due to the implementation of new Clean Water Act
regulations in 2006.
Due to the large volume of water in many regions of the United States, storm
water previously had been normally diverted by storm drains to direct river or
ocean discharge. But this practice is now outlawed under Federal regulations,
and the storm water must be treated to reduce suspended solids, coliforms,
hydrocarbons, and nitrogen compounds.
Hydrocarbons
There are two main pollutants associated with storm water from hard surfaces
(parking lots, roofs, sidewalks, patios, etc) and hydrocarbons are the #1 on the
list. These hydrocarbons include virtually all types of petroleum distillates,
including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and oil.
Testing in Scotland and China of the EOH2O process has denoted the ability to
rapidly oxidize petroleum products - including kerosene, benzene, xylene,
ethylene, toluene, gasoline, diesel, and Pyroid and pyrene-based pesticides and
herbicides (the majority of commercially available pesticides and herbicides are
Pyroids - and are comprised of various long chain complex carbon and hydrogen
bonds).
In all the tests performed for the major Oil and Natural Gas producers in Scotland
(where all the major research on oil and natural gas treatment is conducted by
Bp, Shell, Total, Chevron-Texaco, Varco-Brandt, Cetco and others) - reductions
exceeded 95% of all hydrocarbons, with many reduced to "non-detectable levels".
As storm water would never contain the levels of oils and petroleum distillates
associated with Produce Water or Natural Gas Condensate, the EOH2O process
is highly suited to large flow, rapid oxidation of these compounds.
Additionally, the China tests on high concentrate wastewater from pesticide and
herbicide manufacturing again proved the EOH2O process equal to, or
surpassing both biological and Perozone treatment for levels of reductions and
operational costs (Perozone is an Advanced Oxidation Technology utilizing
peroxide and ozone for creation of oxy-radicals).
Coliforms
E. Coli is a main pollutant in many storm water sources. Coliforms come from
animal and bird wastes, human wastes from septic sources, and even plants
(studies by the USDA determined that counts can exceed 200,000 cu/ml on plant
leaves surrounding urban wetlands and highways). As a pollutant of major
concern to health officials, the destruction of such must be considered whenever
storm water treatment systems are evaluated.
Biological systems are poor reducers of coliforms - and ozone is impractical where
high suspended solids are present. Once again, the EOH2O process has proven
it's superiority in destroying Escheriachia and other coliforms in waters with high
organic loads. In wastewater direct from hog pits, the EOH2O process beat ozone
for reduction of coliforms - even where ozone injection rates exceeded 80lpm in a
batch rotation of effluent. Additionally, tests on storm water runoff from a plant
composting site denoted destruction of coliform counts exceeding 120,000
colonies per millilitre where suspended solids exceeded 3,000 ppm, and did so in
a matter of minutes.
With the ability to operate the EOH2O electrodes direct from photo voltaic power
panels, the EOH2O system can be placed below ground. Without the need for
filtration to ensure coliform destruction, the ease of placement, low maintenance
requirements, and ability to handle flow rates up to 1500gpm, numerous
municipalities and major engineering firms are looking at the EOH2O system to
resolve many public and private storm water treatment issues.
Suspended Solids
the EOH2O process is not a filtration process, though can be incorporated easily
to most existing designs. The main point of the process is that the suspended
solids does not limit the processes ability to reduce hydrocarbon or coliform
pollutants.
Nitrogen Compounds
As with manure wastewater and municipal wastewater lagoons, the EOH2O can
rapidly reduce nitrogen-based pollutants. The speed and level of reduction is
dependent on the level of nitrogen-based organic solids in the storm water - and
thus reductions levels can vary.
Storm Water Catchment Lagoons
For many locales, installing systems for treatment of storm water inside the drains
is impractical from both a financial and implementation standpoint. For these
locales, a main storm water catchment pond or lagoon is used, and the treatment
regime is then the same for a municipal wastewater lagoon or manure lagoon with
a constant discharge but at a much smaller daily rate.
It is far less expensive to treat a constant discharge then a large catchment
lagoon. If the lagoon is sized to allow for "100-year storm event" - then a small
stationary or even portable EOH2O system can be used to reduce the pond by
several hundred thousand or 1-million gallons per day for the cost of 10kWh of
power. Even this operational cost can be reduced if solar power is an option, such
as in the American Southwest and Gulf Coast.
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