Effect of Fire-water on the Environment

Artick89

The company I work for manufacture water-based chemical products.

We are required by the EPA to assess the impact of contaminated firewater on the environment, which is understanderable considering that our site is located close to residential housing.

But how do I asses the impact of contaminated firewater on the environment? The EPA guidelines on this matter simply says that an oprerator must identify the the hazards associated with polluting the environment with contaminated firewater but gives no guidance on how to do this.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Macha

Have you contacted the EPA directly on the issue?

These are the guidelines of the UK EPA

Cookie_Monster

whats firewater?

is it just water held on site for emergency purposes?

Macha

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

whats firewater?

is it just water held on site for emergency purposes?

Firewater is the polluted water left over after fighting a fire.

It can be very polluted with various compounds and chemicals, so it needs to be disposed of carefully.

Cookie_Monster

sure thats the fire brigades problem, no?

CJhaughey

Well no it's not. The FD's job is to fight the fire and associated hazardous conditions created by fire ie Gas tanks rupturing etc.
They can't be responsible for what you have stored on your premises.
OP if you look at the Pharma industry in Cork they usually have seperators for holding firewater/contaminated runoff etc.
If you are dealing with specific chemicals then you will have MSDS for those chems and the sheets will give the associated risks involved with the chemicals.
Then you can plan whether you need bunded storage/runoff tanks etc etc.
Start with the chemical MSDS and work out from there.

Nukem

Artick89 wrote: »

The company I work for manufacture water-based chemical products.

If your company is under the guise of the EPA I reckon you have a water discharge or IPPC/IPC license somewhere which may address this issue. Does your company have some sort of effluent or treatment plant and is it covered under the O&M of that perhaps?

Other things you may have that can be activated in the event of a fire is interceptor drains/retention ponds by flow valves to drain off tanks/ponds that can be separated from the main drains.

There are a number of consultancy firms who specialize in this particular area. May be worth making an inquiry.

IT Loser

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

whats firewater?

is it just water held on site for emergency purposes?

Firewater is what travellers and Native Americans call booze

djpbarry

IT Loser wrote: »

Firewater is what travellers and Native Americans call booze

Friendly reminder: this is not AH.

Offy

Artick89 wrote: »

The company I work for manufacture water-based chemical products.

We are required by the EPA to assess the impact of contaminated firewater on the environment, which is understanderable considering that our site is located close to residential housing.

But how do I asses the impact of contaminated firewater on the environment? The EPA guidelines on this matter simply says that an oprerator must identify the the hazards associated with polluting the environment with contaminated firewater but gives no guidance on how to do this.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Some years ago I worked in a chemical plant, I was responsible for the SCADA system that monitored all processes. All liquids that fall on the ground/roof/etc. must be contained in a chemical plant. These liquids were stored in a tank and once a day we discharged to a water pre-treatment plant. Before discharging the tank the aqueous waste had to be neutralised and COD, BOD, Ph, sulphite levels, etc. were recorded. If any level was to high the waste was diluted with regular water until all levels were below the set standard. I would treat the firewater in the same manner.
Consider it as aqueous waste and neutralise it, if this cannot be done for whatever reason then it can always be sent of for incineration but that can be expensive.