Atlas Iron and Metal Company is a scrap metal recycling facility on the Alameda Corridor in Los Angeles, California. Atlas, a family run organization since 1949, is one of the leading buyers of steel, cast iron, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass, radiators, insulated wire, electric motors and all other metals in the Los Angeles area.
Southern California while dry for the majority of the year has seasonal downpours that can flood low lying areas. Atlas’ location was no exception. As scrap recyclers it is not uncommon for them to see heavy oil from engine blocks, grease, solids (a pollutant called TSS or total suspended solids), metals, and COD (chemical oxygen demand). Despite the company’s efforts to control pollutants on site through rigorous source control and housekeeping BMPs they still had concerns that some pollutants were making their way into local waterways.
With the help of StormwateRx LLC Atlas revamped their entire stormwater conveyance system to reduce pollutants from leaving their site and entering in local waterways. StormwateRx has helped redesign the stormwater conveyance so that all stormwater leaves the site through the treatment BMPs. StormwateRx supplied the Clara plug-flow separator for pre-treatment of stormwater and the Aquip stormwater filtration system for enhanced treatment.
Clara Plug-Flow Separator is a settling system that provides basic or first line removal of free-oil, floatables, dirt and associated pollutants such as metals. Clara includes an internal high flow bypass that allows storm events larger than the treatment design capacity (i.e. - clean water) to bypass without washing out accumulated oil and sludge.
Aquip enhanced stormwater filtration system provides a secondary level of pollutant reduction targeting fine solids, dissolved metals, nutrients and organics. Patent-pending Aquip uses filtration, sorption, and biological processes as the primary means of pollutant removal. Solids and metals (dissolved and particulate) are sequentially removed within the Aquip after passing through several layers of both inert and sorptive medias. The Aquip also targets the removal of organics (known as COD, BOD, and TOC) using biological activity inherent to the depth filtration system. The Aquip’s passive hydraulic controls provide optimal pollutant removal without using water backwashing systems as required by pressure sand filtration systems.
Contact StormwateRx to find out how the Clara and Aquip can help you meet your stormwater quality requirements.