Secondary spill containment is the containment of hazardous liquids in order to prevent pollution of soil and water. Common techniques include the use of spill berms to contain oil-filled equipment, fuel tanks, truck washing decks, or any other places or items that may leak hazardous liquids.
Definition[edit]
Secondary spill containment involves the sequestration of hazardous waste to prevent the contamination of local soils and water.[1]
In the electrical utility industry[edit]
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure (SPCC) guidelines require that facilities that store large quantities of petroleum (products) must have a plan in place to contain a spill.[2] The purpose of the SPCC rule is to establish requirements for facilities to prevent a discharge of oil into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines. Within the electric utility industry, oil-filled transformers are often in need of secondary containment.[citation needed] Outdated secondary containment techniques such as concrete catch-basins are quickly losing ground to solutions that offer more cost-effective cleanup in case of a spill or leak.[citation needed] One example of a more cost-effective method involves placing a geotextile boom filled with oil solidifying polymers around a transformer. These geotextile barriers allow for flow of water, but completely solidify oil in the event of a leak and effectively seal the spill.[citation needed] Many electrical utility companies are switching to this method because it saves them significant amounts of money when a spill occurs, because there is no need to employ vac-trucks afterwards to clean up a spill inside a catch-basin.[citation needed]
Portable spill containment[edit]
Portable containment berms are essentially a basin that can catch many different types of hazardous liquids and chemicals. They are a form of secondary spill containment useful for containing mobile equipment such as oil drums, trucks, tankers and trailers. Unlike geotextile berms, portable berms usually do not solidify oil.[citation needed] Many companies involved in fracking use spill containment berms to capture contaminated water that is a by-product of the operation.[citation needed] Each well site has multiple trucks that transport water used in deep well drilling procedure.[citation needed]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "40 CFR 267.195 - What are the secondary containment requirements?". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2018-03-28.
- ^ "Oil Spills Prevention and Preparedness Regulations". EPA. March 7, 2017.
External links[edit]
External links[edit]
- Media related to Secondary spill containment at Wikimedia Commons