Even after holding or treating waste water to reduce its risk to the nearby environment, it’s usually necessary to release the resulting water to some part of the natural waterways in the area. Discharging clean water into nearby waterways generally has no effect on the quality. If it’s not possible to completely process the water before discharging it, installing a constructed wetland is usually the best way to transition the water back to nature while providing additional treatment. These methods work well for drainage systems from everything from agricultural to sewage treatment, although they may need minor adjustments based on the specific water you’re draining.
Water Quality
It’s important to monitor water quality with routine testing to ensure that drainage and treatment systems are working properly. Releasing even one flush of water that is contaminated or high in bacteria and fertilizer loads can result in expensive fees from both state and federal environmental agencies. If you’re generating so much runoff or drainage water that you’re discharging water on a daily or weekly basis, you may want to consider active monitoring equipment to constantly track water quality.
Calculating Discharge Rates
Unless the water you’re releasing from your drainage system is sparkling clean and as clean as possible, you’ll face some limitations on how much you can release and how often it can occur. Only your local environmental planning authority can determine the ideal discharge rate for your system. The rate is based on both the precise risk posed by the waste water and the frequency of releases. If you only need to dump a few hundred gallons of a time of nearly clean water, you’ll get a more generous maximum discharge rate than someone releasing highly concentrated waste water or discharging thousands of gallons at a time. Opportunities to reduce total volume, such as groundwater recharging wells and evaporation ponds, can help you make the most of a limited discharge rate into a local body of water.
State and Federal Permissions
Most states and counties have some kind of environmental protection agency that is in charge of managing waste water and drainage systems. These systems require inspections and permits in most parts of the country, ensuring that they’ll function as designed and pose little to no risk to surrounding properties. This is on top of the official EPA permit requirements for most commercial and agricultural drainage designs. Delays in inspections and permit approvals can slow down the installation process by weeks or months, depending on the number of permits you need. Add a few extra weeks to your project timeline to accommodate these processes so there’s no issues with delays.
Processing and Treatment Ponds
Processing and treatment ponds are almost always involved when drainage systems are designed to discharge water directly into nearby waterways. These ponds settle out dissolved solids and allow for aeration, filtration, or flocculation to treat the water until it’s cleaner and clearer. Some basic agricultural runoff may only need a single settling pond before discharge, while mine runoff and other more intensive wastes often require multiple chambers and active filtration units.
Each waterway only has a limited ability to absorb discharged water while maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Whenever possible, wait to locate your crop fields or water treatment plant until you’ve worked out the details of water release. Channels running to the waterway for release should include flexible liners to control erosion. Check out BTL Liner’s full selection of products to prepare both the drainage system and connected treatment ponds.
