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Is Your Stormwater System a Washout?

September 1, 2007By Richard E. Ayres, JD

A guide to ensuring your pollutant removal system doesn't unintentionally release contaminants

Throughout the world, thousands of stormwater pollutant removal systems are being installed in an effort to prevent watercourses from being polluted. As supply has risen to meet demand, a variety of proprietary, chamber-based systems have emerged, including hydrodynamic separators, which are designed to settle out and store sediments and associated pollutants, preventing them from being discharged to the natural environment.

ABCs of CWT

July 1, 2007By Drew Frye

Centralized waste treatment: the guidelines for treating liquid wastes and how they affect you

As a part of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to provide effluent guidelines to particular industries, whether they discharge wastewater to surface water or publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

Cleanup Cost-cutter

June 1, 2007By Bob Kelley

A guide to the most efficient oxygen-release compound to use in the enhanced bioremediation of contaminated soil and groundwater

Unfortunately, many of the advances in our industrialized world have come at great expense to our environment. Currently, one of the biggest environmental problems in the United States and other developed nations is the contamination of soil and groundwater caused by accidental releases of hazardous chemicals and petroleum hydrocarbons.

Mercury's Rising Impact

June 1, 2007By Constance L. Senior

This contaminant, a combustion byproduct of power plants, is increasingly polluting land and water through air-borne deposition

Mercury is getting a lot of attention, both in the popular press and in state and federal regulatory agencies. Combustion systems, like coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, incinerators, and cement kilns, are sources of mercury emissions to the air. This article outlines the mercury emission regulations that apply to different combustion systems and the best demonstrated means to control these emissions from combustion sources. This article focuses on utility and industrial combustion systems because they are the highest emitters and face the greatest reductions and tightest scrutiny.

On the Lookout

June 1, 2007By Paul C. Simonetta

Paying attention to often ignored wastewater sources, such as cooling towers, can help your facility stay in compliance

Many facility environmental managers believe that their wastewater compliance requirements are properly managed when discharges from “production-related operations and equipment” are permitted. However, other discharge sources, such as building- or facility-related utilities that provide support to company operations, may require permitting or be subject to other regulatory requirements.

Taking Cities by Storm

May 1, 2007By Kimberly Paggioli

A state-of-the-art drainage system helps municipalities in flat locales decrease the volume and duration of street flooding

If Buddy Holly, the 1950s rock musician, helped put Lubbock, Texas, on the map, heavy rains and flooding have done their best to take it off. So, when a warning like the one quoted below is published, this major city located in the Texas Panhandle takes it very seriously.

The Paradox of Politics

May 1, 2007By Cindy Chen, Mike Hicks

Party division unearths more environmental law development, analysis shows

Just as "it takes two to tango," it has taken two political parties working in tandem over the last few decades in the United States to produce the vast majority of major federal environmental laws.

A Cure for Healthy Computing

April 1, 2007By Elizabeth Donley

Like Picking a Good Doctor, Selecting the Right Environmental Software Takes Work

Did you ever notice that advertisements for environmental, health and safety (EH&S) software products sound like commercials for pain relief?

On the Road to Greater Compliance

April 1, 2007By Ryan Kreutzwiser

Implementation of mobile technology software cuts time, improves data collection and helps in meeting regulatory requirements

Facilities across many industry sectors are turning to mobile technology software designed for PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) handheld devices to meet various environmental compliance demonstration requirements. This article discusses the capabilities of mobile technology in this regard and describes several situations in which facilities fulfilled regulatory requirements by utilizing software designed for handheld devices.

Setting Up a Digital Control Center

April 1, 2007By Stephen Paff

Integrated software systems can help organizations with multiple generation sites handle hazardous waste responsibilities more effectively

When considering entities that manage hazardous waste generated at a large number of generating sites, most people think of billion-dollar national or multinational corporations, with factories and facilities distributed over a wide area.

A Sensitive Electronic Nose

November 1, 2006By Edward J. Staples

Gas chromatograph device speeds up VOC identification in air, water, soil samples

A new type of electronic nose, based on ultra-fast gas chromatography, can perform analytical measurements of volatile organic vapors in near real-time with part-per-trillion sensitivity.

Preparing For a Rainy Day

November 1, 2006By Matthew Van Patten, PE, CHMM, Michael E. Yost

A guide to stormwater maintenance, inspection, and regulatory compliance

When we think of pollution, most of us conjure up images of smokestacks or drums of hazardous waste. But one of the most significant sources of water pollution in the United States today is stormwater runoff, and it merits the full attention of industrial and commercial facilities alike.

ESA Rules: Plain English Version (Part 1)

October 1, 2006By Nick Albergo, PE

An explanation of the new standards related to Phase 1 environmental site assessments and the necessity for an opinion regarding additional investigations

The following is the first of a two-part series that analyzes new Phase 1 ESA requirements and their impact on consultants and their clients. The second part is scheduled to be published in the November/December 2006 issue of Environmental Protection.

Wildcatting In Wastewater

October 1, 2006By Tom Hobson

Record high oil prices are causing manufacturers to seek profitable ways to extract oil from their wastewater

Since last year, when crude oil prices soared and gasoline topped $3 per gallon, requests for skimmers to be used for recycling oil from plant wash water, municipal wastewater, machine shop coolant, and contaminated groundwater have increased 25 percent according to one major supplier of oil skimming equipment.

Resurrecting the Dead Zone

September 1, 2006By Erica Pincus

Reducing U.S. agribusiness' nitrogen runoff could reverse past damage to the Gulf of Mexico

The Dead Zone -- sounds creepy doesn't it? But what is it? It's a crisis that's attacking oceans and bays throughout the world, and a reality more frightening than current governmental policies and actions have led the public to believe.