Sunday, September 14, 2014

Ideas For Making Secondary Containment Systems

By Amelia Buckner


The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has set some regulations and requirements for containment systems but you are free to use anything in making them for as long as it meets those requirements. Secondary containment systems are used to stop pollution from leaking oil spills. There are many things you can do to contain spilling.

Containment decks and pallets can be of use if 20 drums at the maximum are stored. It is cheap to buy these containments making them ideal for small and medium enterprises. In the case you are moving your physical location of your business you can easily move them.

Concrete berms and cement blocks make another good option for custom-sized containments. Most of the times you find them build outdoors because they are not affected by atmospheric conditions and they are long lasting. They add more security to materials kept inside due to their strength. An impervious barrier can be created by sealing the concrete.

All fluids flow downwards due to gravity pull and it would be advantageous to you if you created a secondary containment with a slope. It will facilitate the spills to flow to a collecting area at the lower part of the slope which is fitted by responders. Compared to a level ground this one is better. During winter snow that falls on the ground melts and mixes with the spills which makes it necessary to install filters which can filter out oil spills

The new norm is using double-walled equipment which holds fluids inside. Leakages in tankers have been solved by making their body parts using double-walled materials. These walls have the benefit of holding leakages between them if the inner one leaks minimizing environmental pollution. An alarm system can be installed in between them to send warnings of leakages in the inner wall.

Constructing retention ponds to hold spills is a great idea. It can be done both indoors and outdoors and its use is to retain the fluids in that pond and not released to the environment. They are mostly made of earthen materials but some regulations will require you to get a lining for them to avoid leaching to soil.

Sometimes you need to change your business location and any physical design you had done on your old location you will have to leave it there and start afresh in the new area. Collapsible containments solve this since they can be folded and transported or kept in store when not in use. They are very good in holding spills and their walls can be folded down to allow vehicles to move above them.

If you are limited on budget for initial setup costs then earthen made berms are your best choice due to their low costs and quick set up. Expect all the spills to be held but be ready for frequent remediating or replacing when they get contaminated. Later when you have good money you can invest in another kind of secondary containment will less maintenance costs.

Sometimes time is not on your side and you have to buy these secondary equipments quickly. There are pre-fabricated containments which you can buy and use the straight away. They have been tested to meet EPA requirements.




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