Updated Case Study

Wash Bay Solutions offers an NPDES Permit Holder an Alternative Solution

A re-manufacturer of heavy-duty electric motors for both the industrial and the coal industries was having major issues complying with the latest EPA rules. In the mid 1980’s, they were granted a NPDES permit to discharge the treated wash water to a local tributary.

Over the years, the requirements for the permit grew tighter and the compliance testing grew more expensive. They were spending tens of thousands of dollars per year on water analyses.

With the changing environmental landscape and increased development around the plant, they were also concerned that the permit may not be renewed. And without a permit, they would be forced to shut down wash operations. Production would be severely impacted by limited wash operations so they contacted Wash Bay Solutions for help.

After a thorough review of their wastewater analyses and production washing requirements, we recommended a three-chamber settling basin, a clarifier oil water separator and our closed loop water reclaim system which would eliminate the need for the NPDES permit. One of their particular issues was a lack of extra plant space to house any additional treatment equipment so we offered our transportable equipment room (TER) that could be set outside adjacent to their plant. The TER was designed for tough winter weather conditions to protect the equipment from cold weather and freezing issues.

Once given the go ahead, the entire system was built in a transportable equipment room and tested in our factory. The on-site installation was simple and within two days, their system was up and running. Their wash bay and production operations were never affected. Best off all, they no longer needed their NPDES permit and they were able to cut the pipe delivering water to the tributary.

To verify the effectiveness of our systems for them, we tested the water at various points within our system. As you can see by the results below, our customer was very pleased with our system.

Sample Location	Total Suspended Solids, TSS (mg/l)	Fat, Oil & Grease, FOG (mg/l)
Pre SPT Clarifier Separator	137	36
Post SPT Clarifier Separator	59	<5
Post Closed Loop Filtration	<5	<5