Agency OKs Smart Sponge Plus for Use in Reducing Bacteria in Runoff
AbTech Industries announces that its Smart Sponge® Plus technology has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the reduction of coliform bacteria in stormwater runoff.
“We are excited to provide our Smart Sponge technology to local governments and others who seek to address our nation’s most critical water pollution challenges, including coliform bacteria plaguing our public beaches, oil tainting our Gulf Coast region, and stormwater pollution running off our streets into public waterways,” says AbTech Industries President and Chief Executive Officer Glenn Rink. “AbTech is prepared to address these challenges, and we are grateful to the EPA for their timely approval of our stormwater pollution filtration technology.”
The technology already has proven cost effective for the removal of oil and other pollutants from stormwater runoff and with the addition of the antimicrobial agent, this latest edition reduces coliform bacteria found in stormwater, industrial wastewater, and municipal wastewater. These types of persistent pollution have been described as “death by a thousand cuts.” No one event typically causes dramatic problems, but the gradual buildup of these pollutants in U.S. waterways has a huge environmental impact.
The technology is now deployed in more than 15,000 locations throughout the world including, Long Beach, Calif.; Norwalk, Conn.; and Nags Head, N.C.
AbTech explained that Smart Sponge technologies can be used to address challenges, including:
- reducing pollutant loadings to important national waters,
- reducing pollution that contributes to more than 20,000 beach closures in America each year,
- increasing points in a LEED-certified development, and
- filtering oil from marine waters, such as those in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company's products are based on polymer technologies capable of removing hydrocarbons, sediment, and other foreign elements from still (ponds, lakes, and marinas) or flowing water (curbside drains, pipe outflows, rivers, and oceans).