Surface Water Remediation for Pipeline Spill
Hazardous Materials Transportation Company • Alabama
Solution Overview
Client:
Hazardous materials transportation company
Business Challenge:
An industrial mining company needed emergency response services during a pipeline spill.
Solution:
The Apex Companies team provided rapid support to remediate the pond surface water by designing, constructing, and maintaining a custom treatment system.
Results:
The project resulted in a 99 percent decrease of contaminants within three weeks.
Challenge
When a release from a 32-inch diameter gasoline pipeline was discovered within a rural mining operations area within two large 5M-gallon ponds, Apex provided emergency response and remediation to limit volatile emissions and protect the fish and wildlife.
Solution
As on-site engineer, Apex performed fast-track design, procurement, and installation of explosion-proof aeration systems to remediate dissolved phase impacts in both ponds. Specifically, we designed, specified, constructed, operated, and maintained an innovative, flexible treatment system for the rapid remediation of surface water ponds including floating surface aerators typically used for fishponds/wastewater treatment lagoons and temporary power systems. We used small aerators to maximize oxygen transfer while reducing the pond‑mixing velocity to keep the pond sediments stable. Surfactants added to the ponds during the emergency response action created foam which highlights the extent of aeration as shown in the above photo.
Our approach was perfect for this remote location due to a quick and easy installation, quiet backup power generators, and its efficacy in transferring oxygen to the water. The oxygen transfer volatilized the dissolved petroleum constituents, provided dissolved oxygen to support a healthy ecosystem, and promoted the biological degradation of long chain petroleum hydrocarbons.
Results
Our expeditious cleanup resulted in a 99 percent decrease of petroleum contaminants within three weeks, avoided a fish kill, and met the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits prior to discharging any water from the interconnected ponds. The system, which operated for six months as a good faith effort to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), demonstrated through Alabama Department of Environmental Management-approved volatization calculations, that aerator emissions were below the remediation threshold and did not require a new air permit.
Apex can easily install this technology or similar technologies to provide the rapid design, construction, and remediation of surface water at sites with varying needs.