Sewer spill treatment

[freddy]

How, or do you treat sewer back-up's in an outside setting, environmentally. Are you required to do treatment,or do you offer it as a service to your customer. :)

[apf]

For small residential spills usually a good hosing and then spraying with bleach . Under a structure crawl / bungalow. I have removed in 55 gal. bags , and then spread lime . I don't know if these are the best ways ,but that is how I was taught . For larger spills , apartments , I have used back-hoes / front end loaders to remove the top layer of earth.

[stxrus]

normally if an external cleanout has gone Vesuvious i'll try to pick up the paper and other like materials. i'll hose the area down with pressure water (garden hose with spray nozzle) and spray some disinfectant around the spill area. so far nothing more than a mess. nothing of a biohazard nature (even though it ALL is a biohazard) so far.

we have no regulations regarding residential/small commercial spills here. now a refinery, ship, or other "major" spillage requires the coast guard, epa, and any other govrnmental agency that can be rounded up to get involved.

thank the gods i'm a little guy and don't deal with the "big boys" :)

steve

[All Clear Sewer]

If I have to clean it up I just wash it down and use bleach. Bleach only has a 30. min window before you have to remix and do it again.

[BHD]

there was a city sewer backup and flooded my sons yard and his neighbors yard, and the neighbor called the health department, and the heath department had lime spread and rototilled in to the soil a few inches down, over the neighbors yard and part of my sons yard,
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but then my uncle (came through the depression and lived in the country very rural area) had a hand pump on the septic tank and would pump the liquid out for irrigating the garden, he did that up until jsut a few years before he died, at the age of 92,

and he did rasie a beautiful garden evey year,
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the sun will disinfect the top or the surface in a short time any way.

[S. tatum]

http://www.deq.state.ok.us/factsheets/local/srfsewage.pdf
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/sewage.pdf
Each state will have differing rules on reporting and/or cleanup requirements. If your spill doesn't effect your neighbors or get out to the street you can probally get by with cleaning it up yourself. But remember.. it's POO water... take precautions not to get infected. even if it is only your families waste, guest at your house that may have been carring Hepitisis or other nasty stuff can still be lurkin in it. Its just bad stuff to deal with. Your local health department or state Department of Environmental Quality should have some procedures in place, and Information to help. Hope this helps.
Tatum

[PLUMBER RICK]

once the health dept. was called on a job that i had just showed up to. the waste was washing down the sidewalk:eek:

they said to sweep up the solids and paper. wash the area with a 10% bleach solution. 10 parts water 1 part bleach.

as long as it doesn't make it into the storm drain, it's not a hugh issue.


rick.

[plumberscrack]

and he did rasie a beautiful garden evey year.

Hope it wasn't a vegetable garden :eek::D:eek:

[Gene Bickford]

If I have to clean it up I just wash it down and use bleach. Bleach only has a 30. min window before you have to remix and do it again.
I've never heard of a 30min window for bleach. Do you mean from the time you mix or from the time you spray? I keep a 10 to 1 mix in a spray bottle for door knobs, van doors, tools etc.. I know bleach will dissipate over a short time if exposed but now you have me wondering if it will do the same in a spray bottle.

[BHD]

Hope it wasn't a vegetable garden :eek::D:eek:


yes it was a vegetable garden, for some reason when ever my dad stopped by to talk to him he never need any garden produce, Hum I wonder why,

on the plus side it was ditch irrigated not sprinkle

but my uncle was a unique person, he dressed like, Jed Clampett, of the The Beverly Hillbillies TV series, but drove a Jaguar car, and used it like a pickup truck, chain saw handing out the back of the trunk, similar to this one, http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h135/carloslorenzo/ClassicCarsatAutoRetro_Jaguar.jpg one day he came up to our place and pulled out some small scissors and complained he had to buy a new pair of them as he wore out the old ones clipping his savings bonds and cashing them in, (my dad really felt for him that day, LOL)

[BHD]

chlorine will lose strength over time, in a years or twos time a jug of chlorine bleach is nearly water,
it will evaporate out of an open container and it is utilized in it disinfecting process, but mixing up some in a spray bottle it will change in strength over time but it will remain viable for a good length of time,
but to spray it on some surface or place it on a spill, it may only be good for a few Min's,or seconds before it combines with other things and reacts, I am not positive of all the science involved, but in water testing you test for free chlorine or total chlorine, see excerpts below,

http://www.edstrom.com/Resources.cfm?doc_id=164

Forms of Chlorine in Water
Chlorine test kits measure either free chlorine or total chlorine in water.


Free Chlorine
Free chlorine is defined as the concentration of residual chlorine in water present as dissolved gas (Cl2), hypochlorous acid (HOCl), and/or hypochlorite ion (OCl-). The three forms of free chlorine exist together in equilibrium.


Combined Chlorine
Combined chlorine is defined as the residual chlorine existing in water in chemical combination with ammonia or organic amines which can be found in natural or polluted waters. Ammonia is sometimes deliberately added to chlorinated public water supplies to provide inorganic chloramines.

Total Chlorine
Total chlorine is the sum of free and combined chlorine. When chlorinating most potable water supplies, total chlorine is essentially equal to free chlorine since the concentration of ammonia or organic nitrogen compounds (needed to form combined chlorine) will be very low. When chloramines are present in the municipal water supply, then total chlorine will be higher than free chlorine.

In the wast treatment plant I ran after it had been through the system we ran it in a chlorine treatment tank where chlorine was added to the effluent had to have X amount of it "free" or "Residual" chlorine in the effluent before discharging it into the creek below the plant, and the plant was old and simple so I would have to readjust the pump as the chlorine solution would dilute ever few days, to keep the amount approx, correct, as the EPA had upper limits as well,

Residual Chlorine
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&rls=GGIH,GGIH:2007-02,GGIH:en&defl=en&q=define:RESIDUAL+CHLORINE&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
The amount of free available chlorine remaining in the water after the chlorine demand has been satisfied.

[Gene Bickford]

Thanks BHD thats good info to know. I guess I'll have to stop buying my bleach and cleaning supplies at the liquidation store:(.