As the rainy season premiers, we once again have to consider how it will affect our businesses and personal lives.
Businesses must take special precautions to prevent contamination from overflow. Overflow happens when land and man made structures fill up with rain water and then overflow into the surrounding areas. “First Flush” as it is called, is the most important time of the rainy season because it’s when the highest levels of contaminants are present in any given situation due to the lack of rain. The heavy metals, oils and greases found in a lot of man made structures can contaminate the surrounding area if not properly contained and disposed of.
It is important to cover up exposed areas like the ones described above or move them inside. For raw land, create a drainage system for channeling overflow water and directing it to a safe area.
Cleaning and keeping clean areas of potential contamination build-up with dramatically help reduce the risk of overflowing contaminated water.
When dealing with storm drains, it is important to assess each drain location individually becuase where some drains might benifit from a simple filter, others might need to be blocked off completely to prevent heavy loads of contamination. Conventional “witch hats” are cheap but without constant maintenance, can actually make matters worse if they get too heavy with dirt and clog, they can collapse into the storm drain. Witch hats also prevent sampling by inspectors. The best solution for this is the Triton Storm Drain Insert. It has a heavy duty cylindrical filter which is hollow and allows for sampling with ease. Below is a picture of a witch hat along side a Triton Storm Drain Insert.
Following these simple tips and tricks can help any business and/or private residence prevent our local water from being contaminated.
For additional information how first flush and overflow prevention, please go to www.ushydrotech.com