Spill Containment and Wastewater Treatment – Understanding the Comprehensive Approach

Wastewater treatment and management are wide-ranging disciplines, designed to maintain health and safety within facilities and within the wider community, as well as keeping the local area safe from harm. Secondary spill containment solutions make this possible, offering additional protection when needed.

So how do these approaches fit together? Why are effective wastewater treatment and reliable spill containment so closely linked? Read on to learn more about this as we examine the comprehensive approach to wastewater treatment, combining different aspects to maintain optimum levels of safety and effectiveness.

But first,

What Is Spill Containment?

Spill containment is the process by which you prevent or minimize the leakage and spillage of hazardous substances into air, ground or waterways by confining the hazardous materials or chemicals within a barrier or directing them to a drainage system. The aim is to reduce or do away with the risk of harming people, animals, plants, and the ecosystem.

Why Is Spill Containment Necessary?

The answer is simple. To protect living beings as well as the environment from harm.

Oh yes—your business too! It’s critical to avoid spillage and leakage of hazardous substances to prevent the following:

• Downtime in business processes
• Injury to personnel leading to loss of productivity and capability
• Damage to machinery, property and inventory from fires and corrosion due to material spills
• Air, water and land pollution in the premises and vicinity
• Wastage of resources and materials
• Cost, effort and time spent in cleaning up and decontamination
• Fines for non-compliance with laws and regulations

Why Wastewater Is Prone to Spillage and Leakage

It’s the nature of wastewater that necessitates a comprehensive approach to treatment and handling. Wastewater contains pathogens that can be significantly harmful to human and environmental health. Results of a 2013 study cited by the National Center for Biotechnology Information found that wastewater samples commonly include Shigella, Salmonella, Leptospira, E. coli, Mycobacterium, Vibrio, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, protozoa Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and cysts of Entamoeba histolytica, among other pathogens.

This is on top of the non-organic compounds found in industrial wastewater samples. As industrial facilities utilize chemicals during their daily operations, industrial wastewater tends to include these chemicals too. Detergents, oil and grease, phenols, hydrocarbons and plasticizers are commonly found in this wastewater. Depending on the industry, pesticides, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals may be present too. All of this needs to be kept out of the local water table and away from human, animal, and plant life.

But wastewater is primarily a liquid, so it is difficult to contain. Spillages during operations, stormwater, and increased levels of runoff can quickly overwhelm and bypass wastewater treatment solutions. This means a comprehensive treatment strategy is required, one that is capable of handling high levels of wastewater through the expected channels but also incorporates spill protection and other solutions that prevent contamination.

The Role of Spill Containment in Wastewater Treatment

Spill protection solutions manage to be both very simple and highly effective. These secondary spill containment products simply provide a physical barrier that prevents liquids from escaping or reaching places where they could cause a risk. The storage and transportation solutions themselves are designed to protect against leakages and spillages; the spill containment products provide a secondary line of defense — hence “secondary spill containment.” Once contained, the potentially hazardous liquids can either be redirected to wastewater treatment channels or dealt with separately, depending on their chemical constitution.

A robust set of spill protection solutions helps your wastewater treatment systems function at their best without becoming blocked or overwhelmed. These solutions also help your business remain compliant with environmental regulations in your area.

Different Types of Spill Containment

There are a number of different types of secondary spill containment solutions available to your business, ranging from single-barrel hard tops to containment berms and Ultra spill pallet in P1 and P4 models. Read on below to discover more about some of the different containment solutions available within the Chemtech product range.

Spill Decks

Spill containment decks are raised platforms designed to hold barrels and drums of liquid. In the event of leakage, these decks contain the flow of material, preventing contamination and escape. Our Ultra Spill Decks come in a range of sizes, including one, two, to four drum sizes. They feature a modular design, providing a scalable solution. Ultra Spill Deck Plus models feature a shared sump, increasing the protective capacity of the spill protection solution when multiple products are connected to one another. The products are designed to be heavy-duty and can support forklift trucks and other pieces of equipment.

Spill Pallets

Spill pallets contain a spill containment floor mounted within a pallet design, built from high-strength, corrosion-resistant polyethylene. Economy models are available for organizations grappling with tight budgets. We also provide raised models to meet specific operational requirements, as well as nestable solutions that make storage and management easy. Ultra spill pallets are available in P1 and P4 or P1 Plus and P4 Plus formats.

Hard Top Containment Solutions

Hard top solutions offer encasement and containment for single barrels and drums. The lid of the solution is designed to be easy to operate, facilitating reliable closing and locking while also enabling easy access from both sides of the drum. The cover can be lifted off the top of the barrel for maintenance and examination, eliminating the need to lift the whole solution from ground level. The material is polyethylene, preventing corrosion and damage even after long-term use. We provide Ultra Hard Top P1 and P4 Plus products in our range.

Overpacks

Overpacks provide highly reliable protection, in line with UN and DOT specifications. We provide screw-top secondary spill containment models and 95- and 65-gallon options to offer maximum flexibility and peace of mind to our customers. Our Ultra Overpack Plus models have been certified as safe for usage as DOT Salvage Drums. The entire drum or barrel is contained within the overpack, but personnel can access the interior of the containment solution by simply removing the screw-top lid.

Spill Containment Berms

Berms provide flexible and large-scale spill containment when required. We offer a range of foldable and foam berms designed to support trucks, vehicles, containers, and other heavy-duty storage solutions.

Storm Drain Protectors

Storm drain protectors are topical spill containment solutions that block storm drains on a temporary basis. If, for instance, you need to transport or load in a consignment of oil or fuel, this needs to be kept out of the storm drain system in the event of a spillage. Simply fit the protective cover over the storm drain opening to prevent any contamination.

Innovations in Spill Containment

One common trend that is a wise one for just about any form of containment or risk management, is trying to use technology to think ahead. This means installing preventative measures to contain spills just in case they happen, rather than trying to deploy them after something has already taken place. A good example of this is temporary or permanent berms or barriers. Some facilities put these around their machines in fluid processing areas to have an automatic way to contain spills. By using these over absorbents, the spilled materials are easier to collect and recycle.

With this said, this doesn’t mean that absorbents are completely going out of style. In some cases, it’s a matter of improving them rather than trying to replace them. For example, several workplace regulations are putting a tighter hold on silica exposure in certain facilities. This means that there’s a growing need and interest for replacing typical clay-based absorbents with natural materials. One potentially surprising asset that may be good for this purpose is coconut coir.

Why coir? Tests show that it is eight times more absorbent by weight than traditional clay options, and doesn’t have any silica content at all. This means that if you need silica in other areas, you can use it without worrying about putting your staff at risk.

In some cases, you may be able to actually construct certain areas with spill containment in mind, like using strategic implementation of slopes. Many people creating new facilities may grade an area to help channel certain liquids to a key location. This makes it easier for spill material to all go to one area, where it can be collected or disposed of as needed. This applies to outdoor systems as well. Many sloped outdoor areas can install filtration items to help remove contaminants from stormwater, minimizing potential pollution. Naturally, though, this is more difficult to implement in established structures.

Summing Up

Any workplace spill, whether it’s based on chemicals or oil, needs to be instantly tackled effectively by the staff and professionals on site. Not only does failure in this area potentially lead to putting your staff in immediate danger, as well as potentially failing key compliance regulations, but it can also lead to long-term environmental damage. This is why it’s important to understand some of the modern advancements that are being made to keep spills efficiently contained.

While the factors that can lead to a chemical spill, and the chemicals themselves, may change, the precautions that facility managers need to make doesn’t change much. It’s essential to have both a list of solid practices and effective detection and management technology in order to keep your facility and staff safe. Ideally, you want to get said technology from a company that is both an expert in the industry, but also has the knowledge to stay ahead of trends in safety and compliance. Chemtech International is the perfect match, if I say so myself… We are a family-run business with 30 years of experience helping companies around the world with environmental compliance.

The Chemtech range delivers a wealth of different products to facility managers and other professionals across America. This range includes the secondary spill containment solutions you need to guarantee safe and compliant practices at your facility. Check out our products right away or reach out to our team to discover more about what we offer.