For many decades stormwater was allowed to rush down the streets and over the banks into streams and rivers. It carried topsoil, garbage, litter, chemicals, and oils from cars with it creating a toxic situation in the streams and rivers as well. Now it has been decided that catching the garbage, oils, and chemicals long before they enter the stormwater system is the best solution to keep streams, rivers, and the ocean clean so that they can be used for drinking water, irrigation, and fish habitats, it the best for the environment. One of the ways that cities and municipalities manage stormwater runoff is by instituting a complete system whereby the water is detained, allowed to soak back into the soil, or filtered and cleaned before entering the water supply. There are stormwater and debris separators installed to keep up to 90% of TSS out of the runoff using hydrodynamic separators at many locations.
There Is A Lot Of Trash Being Carried By Stormwater Runoff
It’s actually surprising the amount of trash that is entering the stormwater system every time it rains. Researchers do regular studies where they collect all of the trash from several hydrodynamic separators and actually count every piece of garbage to better understand the problem.
Surprisingly, up to 8% of all the trash was cigarette butts which are often discarded while people wait in traffic at intersections. Cigarette butts have long been a problem for both the waterways and wildlife globally. Food and beverage containers and packages were also very high on the list, and more needs to be done to keep people from showing their litter into the streets. Both the large trash items and the smaller items are important to control since they can clog the system and cause flooding upstream in the water collection system.
What A Hydrodynamic Separator Can Do
The best separators will have a small footprint above ground and do a lot of cleaning and filtering below the surface. They remove particles, debris that floats, and pollutants that don’t mix with the water like oils and hydrocarbons. They do this by letting the solid particles settle out at the bottom of the separator while the floating garbage is swirled around and jettisoned elsewhere. These units have no moving parts, relying instead on the natural property of water to swirl (called vortex flow) and then the physics do the rest.
These separators are best installed in all new construction while the street is being built. However, they can be retrofitted in nearly any location where there is sufficient space above ground and below. They are not only used in street locations but parking lots, industrial parks, apartment complexes, retail locations, power facilities, and many other places. These units are then periodically emptied using a large suction truck during low rainfall times.
If taking care of the environment is a priority for you, then you should invest in one of these low-maintenance stormwater and debris separators to do your part of cleaning and filtering stormwater runoff. We all have to continue to live on this planet together for many thousands of years to come.