Stormwater Emergency Response Series Part 1 – Dumpster Cleanups

Posted on March 10, 2011 by stormwaterjess

One part of stormwater maintenance that tends to go un-noticed is emergency responses.  This is definitely some of the more glamorous work that we do, especially in the summer time!   To bring this usually unknown service into the spotlight, we will be publishing some posts on the various types of responses.  So – drum roll please – Introducing our emergency response series!

Compactor leak.

Emergency spill response action.

Dumpster leaking into storm drain.

Scrubbing pavement.

One major type of emergency response is for dumpster leak cleanups.  This type of spill can occur at sites that dispose of any type of waste that may include liquid.  So that can include a wide range of stores – from grocery stores to hardware and auto part stores.

Many dumpsters and large compactors are intended to be watertight and protected from rainfall.  However, all too often the compactor seals fail or waste management firms do not install them correctly which results in squeezing out liquids every time the compactor operates.  Not a great result.

Other types of stand-alone dumpsters may have open tops and weep holes that allow rainwater to enter.  Once it saturates the contents of the dumpster, well-seasoned dumpster juice exits through the weep holes or open seams.  Rather nasty, no?

As many know, the best way to capture stormwater pollutants is at or near the source, thereby keeping them from ever entering the stormwater management system.  All too often we find that owners or tenants are unaware that their dumpster juice can be impossible to treat or remove once it enters the stormwater system.  Many times, these spills are not seen until we arrive onsite to perform a routine inspection.  However, some of our best clients have store personnel walk their sites daily looking for obvious issues – such as leaking dumpsters.  Not a bad practice as other problems, such as safety issues, can also be identified with a simple walk-around.

Once we are dispatched, our priority is to contain the spill to keep it from entering the storm drain system.  Once contained, we remove the material with either absorbants or vac equipment and treat the paved area to remove residual material.  In some cases, the waste management firm removes the dumpster to allow cleaning beneath it.

Have experiences or opinions with the subject of dumpster cleanups?  Leave a comment, we’d love to hear from you.  Look for more emergency response topics in the future.

Posted in Emergency Response, Maintenance, SWM Maintenance | Leave a comment

Stormwater Maintenance Design Mistakes – Underground Detention

Posted on February 21, 2011 by stormwater

Being responsible for the care and feeding (ie, inspection/maintenance) of well over 500 existing stormwater management facilities in 6 states, we do see quite a few designs that did not appropriately consider maintenance.  What follows is an example we recently observed.

This is a very large underground detention facility that is a concrete deck constructed over a 250′ x 125′ concrete vault.

Surface slab of underground detention facility

Concrete deck from below

The 250' x 125' vault

With dimensions that large, one would hope the designers would have paid close attention to maintenance.  Especially considering the enormous cost of construction for such a structure.  Unfortunately, the ball was dropped on one of the most important elements of this facility – the control structure.

Control structures are located on the downstream end of underground detention facilities.  The control structure typically has a weir wall with an orifice and overflow to constrict flows, causing water to inundate the storage area.  Usually being small, the orifice is also the point where sediment and debris will accumulate.  This accumulation will tend to cause clogging if not removed.  This removal is usually with a vac truck, which must access the area being cleaned directly from above, as shown in the following photo:

Vac truck requires vertical access over structure being cleaned.

Unfortunately, the designers of this particular control structure located the vertical access directly above the downstream side of the weir wall – and provided very little access to the upstream side.

View from only access - from the DOWNSTREAM side of the weir wall

View into the upstream side over the weir wall - note there is no vertical access on the other side of the weir wall

To access the upstream side of the weir wall, it would take a very small person outfitted in confined space entry gear to squeeze through the weir wall opening – not a practical solution.  Alternatively, manhole access to the larger detention “room” on the upstream side is provided – but 75 feet away from the weir wall.  Such access will do little good when the low flow orifice is clogged and the structure is full to the weir with water… and useless for the vac truck to perform routine orifice maintenance.

Conclusion:  there is virtually no access provided to the exact point that needs it the most in this million dollar marvel of underground detention stormwater engineering, rendering it a difficult maintenance problem for its entire lifespan.

Not exactly value engineering.  Definitely not sustainable.

Posted in Stormwater Management | 1 Comment

Bioretention Facility Gasps for Sunlight!

Posted on February 14, 2011 by stormwater

In the continuing Mid-Atlantic snow storage story, this time our intrepid reporter locates a sad bioretention facility struggling to find the springtime sun from beneath the snow dumped into its storage area…

Bioretention Facility being used for Snow Storage

Posted in Stormwater Management | 1 Comment

Alternative uses for Stormwater Management Facilities

Posted on February 11, 2011 by stormwater

Here in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, a popular alternative use for stormwater management facilities is snow storage.  A sure sign of the need for Springtime!

Stormwater facility snow storage

Luckily, this fence survived.  Many have not faired so well:

Snow Removal Damage

Note to Property Managers:  Make sure your snow removal contracts have you covered for this type of damage!

Posted in Stormwater Management | 2 Comments

Low Flow Elmo … Too Hot for Sesame Street

Posted on February 7, 2011 by stormwaterjess

We see a lot of strange things stuck in pipes and occasionally come across animals inside of structures during maintenance and inspection visits.  As you would imagine, it’s always a little un-nerving looking into a structure and seeing a set of eyes peering back at you.  Especially when they big googly plastic eyes that are attached to a furry little red body!

During a recent stormwater maintenance project we were surprised by “Low Flow Elmo” looking back up at us.  Poor little guy.  He had gotten wedged inside of the low flow orifice just before the riser opening.  Fortunately, our crews had the necessary equipment on hand to perform an emergency rescue.  All that CPR training finally came in handy.  It’s not everyday we get to be a hero in the stormwater world!  The extraction of Elmo from the low-flow pipe was a success.

I doubt you will see this story covered on Sesame Street any time soon, but hopefully Elmo learned his lesson that stormwater management ponds are not good places for swimming.

Posted in Other Interesting Stuff, Stormwater Management, SWM Maintenance | Leave a comment

Smart way to improve water quality!

Posted on February 3, 2011 by stormwaterjess

Blue Water Baltimore is the new name for the merger of the Jones Falls Watershed Association, Herring Run Watershed Association, Gwynns Falls Watershed Association, Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association and Baltimore Harbor WATERKEEPER.  The website states that “Blue Water Baltimore’s purpose is to use community based restoration, education, and advocacy to achieve clean water in Baltimore’s rivers, streams, and harbor, so that citizens of the Baltimore region will enjoy a vibrant natural environment, livable neighborhoods, and a healthy, thriving Inner Harbor and Chesapeake Bay.”

One way Blue Water Baltimore is trying to accomplish this is through the Indoor and Outdoor Water Audit Program.  Staff members will assess your property’s “water footprint” to try to reduce polluted runoff from homes, schools, churches and other buildings.  The program is the result of a 3 year grant funded by the Fish and Wildlife Foundation to reduce direct and indirect runoff into the stormwater system of Baltimore.

As part of the audit, several types of opportunities exist.  One opportunity is the downspout disconnection program.  Often, downspouts on buildings are connected directly into storm drains.  In other cases, flow from rooftops is directed it to the street with little flow through vegetation.  Believe it or not, rooftops are sources of pollutants that originate from airborne sources.  As flow from downspouts travel along gutters the water picks up pollutants such as trash and chemicals before flowing into inlets.  These storm drains outfall into streams and river which ultimately flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

By redirecting downspouts to discharge into pervious locations such as lawn, landscaping areas or raingardens, or into a rain barrel, the pollutants and garbage into our streams can be reduced!

Downspout directed into rain barrel.

As an added benefit, you will use less resources for keeping your lawn and landscaping watered, reduce the frequency of watering and reduce your water bill!

Homeowners in the Jones Falls and Herring Run Watersheds can contact Blue Water Baltimore for a consultation.  As part of the grant they are able to offer simple downspout disconnections to pervious land at no cost to the homeowner.  They also offer $25 off rain barrels with free installation, and a $500 match for the design and installation of raingardens.  Blue Water Baltimore is also able to offer services such as impervious area removal and tree planting!

This is one way that individuals taking small steps can help make a big difference in the water quality of our waterways and the Chesapeake Bay.

Posted in Other Interesting Stuff, Stormwater Management | Leave a comment

How could bottled water be bad???

Posted on January 31, 2011 by stormwaterjess

Every time I purchase a bottle of water I feel like I did something good for myself.  After all, water is so much better for you than some of the alternative beverage choices!  However, I was recently shocked to learn that maybe that bottle of water isn’t as wonderful as I thought.

I just finished watching a documentary called Tapped, produced and directed by Stephanie Soechtig and Jason Lindsey.  The film questions whether water is a basic human right or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce.  According to the film, much of the bottled water is drawn from municipal water sources (aka tap water), which gets filtered, bottled, and sold back at 1900X the cost of tap water.  They come into small towns in places such as Maine and Georgia and start pumping huge volumes of water, sometimes despite severe drought conditions.

The second issue the movie explores is that actual production of plastic bottles and the chemicals which they can contain.  Oil is made into plastic during the refining process.

Corpus Christi, TX oil refinery.

Some of the chemicals in the bottles have been shown to leach into the water, especially after the water is warmed, say while sitting in the trunk of your car.  The horrible chemicals in the plastic bottle themselves, including Bisphenol-A (BPA), have been linked to cancer, ADHD, reproductive issues and a whole lot of other nasty things by independent researchers.

Only about 20% of plastic bottles are recycled in the United States.  The bottles that are not recycled end up in landfills or in the ocean.

Plastic bottles inside a storm drain, taken during an annual site inspection.

Huge garbage patches filled with partially decomposed plastic have been found in both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean.  Within these patches, one the size of Texas, the composition of the ocean is changing and plastic is becoming more prevalent than the plankton population.  We’ve written about these on this blog before.

As the Tapped movie website says “I had been naïve enough to think recycling alone was enough.  The only thing we can do is to stop putting plastic in the ocean.  Be more aware of the way things are packaged, say no to plastic bags, don’t buy Styrofoam cups, order less take out (or bring your own containers when you do), stop drinking bottled water, reduce, reuse and recycle.”

Bottles and other plastics found in vortex unit inside of a catch basin at a local shopping center.

Closer to home, we see the results of bottled water every day in our work at Stormwater Maintenance, LLC.

The volume of bottles we see, especially in underground structures, never ceases to amaze all of us.  And to think, everyone who drinks it thinks they are doing the right thing.

Posted in Other Interesting Stuff, Stormwater Management, Sustainable Development | 1 Comment

Maintaining Stormwater Facilities A Good Idea Whose Time Has Come

Posted on January 28, 2011 by stormwater

We just happened upon this most excellent page at Chester County, PA’s website discussing maintenance of stormwater facilities.  A good reference.

As winter has set in hard in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, thought we would throw in a photo of recent memories of Autumn….  An in-stream detention facility we have recently evaluated in an effort to reduce the  environmental impacts of maintenance.

Check out Chester County’s reference here: http://dsf.chesco.org/water/lib/water/Maintaining_Stormwater_Facilities.pdf

Posted in Maintenance, Stormwater Management, SWM Maintenance | 1 Comment

BMPClean.org Re-launch

Posted on January 11, 2011 by stormwater

We recently learned of the re-launch of the BMPClean.org website.  We’ve been listed for well over a year and have had several leads from it.

This website is a national directory of firms that provide stormwater related services.  They have listings for stormwater contractors throughout the United States.  The new site has quick zip code look-ups or national map searches.

This is a great site for municipalities to use as an independent reference to assist property owners and property managers in finding stormwater maintenance contractors.   Definitely worth a look.

Posted in Stormwater Management | 1 Comment

Green Design/Build services help The Park School provide hands-on learning opportunity

Posted on January 6, 2011 by stormwaterjess

Completed bioretention facility along parking area at Park School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Stormwater Management, LLC was involved in the design and construction of a recent project, highlighted in the Baltimore Sun.  A parking lot along Moore’s Branch at the The Park School was identified by the Center for Watershed Protection as an ideal site for a retrofit project to help improve water quality. The project was completed in cooperation with the Center and the Jones Falls Watershed Association (now part of the Baltimore Water Alliance).

Moore’s Branch flows into the Jones Falls and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay.  The parking lot was constructed before stormwater regulations were in place, and stormwater was able to flow directly into the adjacent stream, carrying pollutants and sediments.

Unmanaged stormwater flows off parking lot directly into Moore's Branch.

Unmanaged runoff from parking lot contains excess sediment which negatively impacts the stream quality.

Park School history teacher Daniel Jacoby successfully secured a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust.  With the help of matching funds from the school, Stormwater Maintenance, LLC was brought in to work with the school and community to design, permit, and construct a linear bioretention facility to capture and treat stormwater runoff  before it discharges into Moore’s Branch.

Park School Bioretention Landscape Plan

Employee installing geotextile in bottom of bioretention facility.

Underdrain installation.

Bioretention stone layer.

Planting media installed and monitoring well.

Grading completed along bioretention facility.

Stabilization in place, bioretention facility ready for planting.

Landscaping installed.

To stretch the limited budget, students and school and community volunteers provided their time, labor and materials to perform the final planting.

Student volunteers installing plants in bioretention facility.

This was a unique opportunity to provide our in-house engineering and construction services as well as get involved with a very dear to us cause.  It provides an outdoor classroom for students to learn about the environment and raise awareness of issues and help the students realize how easy it is to make a positive impact on the world, one bioretention facility at a time!!!

We will check back in the spring once the plants have had a chance to establish themselves.

Posted in Facility Types, Stormwater Management, Streams | 1 Comment