The Challenge - What’s the best strategy for adhering to environmental regulations related to pumping water from a construction site?

The Aquatech Approach

When pumping from dewatering systems, storm water management ponds (SWMPs), excavations or trenches, Aquatech always upholds practices that comply with allowable standards. We take a comprehensive approach to managing these issues and maintain our responsibilities over the course of a number of different stages. These include:

Pre-Testing – Sampling and testing gives us a clear idea of the baseline quality of water that will be pumped or transferred. This testing is in line with municipal/provincial/national objectives and is conducted by a certified laboratory.

Filtration or Treatment – We draw on a range of filtration and treatment equipment to meet the standards of each permit. This includes enviro-tanks, filter bags and Geo-tubes, sand media filters, pressure vessels and polymers designed to remove sediments and pollutants from water.

Operating, Monitoring and Testing – Throughout the pumping process we constantly monitor the filtration and treatment to ensure that we’re meeting our discharge objectives. Our technicians track the level of sediments, turbidity and contaminants/pollutants in the discharge to make sure we are in compliance with the permits issued. To contravene any of these standards not only threatens the natural environment or municipal property, it also means the potential for unwanted fines and delays.

Erosion Control of Discharge – If improperly managed, discharge can have dramatically negative impacts. Eroded material can destabilize banks and spread pollutants from scouring surface material into the environment. Aquatech employs various forms of energy dissipaters to mitigate the effects of discharged water. This includes stone combined with flow energy directors or flow dispersion devices that are designed to reduce the concentrated energy of the flow from discharge pipes or hose, thereby minimizing the potential of erosion.

Case Study

A prime example of Aquatech’s ability to deliver an outstanding response in an emergency situation occurred during the construction of a new interchange at Highway 400 and Teston Road in the City of Vaughan. The site sat in a low-level area with the geography sloping downward from both northerly and southerly directions. As construction involved the stripping of several acres of land in preparation for the work, measures had been taken to address storm water flow and site run-off to the outlet in an existing creek. However, significant rainfall in the spring season overwhelmed the storm water management devices and large volumes of turbid water entered the nearby creek. Aquatech was immediately enlisted to institute a storm water bypass treatment system to mitigate the turbid water, which it did by installing a full automated bypass and treatment system comprised of numerous automated primary and standby pumps, enviro-tanks, sand media filters and pressurized micron filters. While the influent turbidity levels were found to be in excess of 2,000 NTU’s, the treatment system implemented lowered these levels to less than 10 NTU’s.