Your site spill response plan should take into consideration your on site drainage.
If drains are not adequately checked and protected from spills, it can lead to serious environmental and safety consequences, particularly when hazardous or harmful substances enter the drainage system. Here are some key points to consider regarding this issue:
Consequences of Unprotected Drains:
- Environmental Contamination:
Unchecked drains can allow chemicals, oils, fuels, or other pollutants to enter water systems, rivers, lakes, or groundwater. This can severely harm aquatic life and disrupt ecosystems.
- Water Pollution:
Spilled substances entering drains may contaminate drinking water sources, making them unsafe for human consumption. This can affect entire communities and require costly remediation efforts.
- Legal and Regulatory Violations:
Many regions have strict environmental regulations governing what can and cannot enter stormwater or wastewater drains. Failure to protect drains from spills could result in fines, lawsuits, or penalties from environmental agencies.
- Public Health Hazards:
Harmful chemicals entering the drainage system can expose the public to dangerous pollutants, leading to health problems, particularly in areas with combined sewage systems where stormwater and wastewater mix.
Best Practices to Prevent Drain Contamination:
- Regular Inspections
Ensure that drains are regularly inspected to ensure they are not cracked, blocked, or otherwise compromised. Regular checks help identify potential vulnerabilities before spills occur.
- Drain Covers
Use drain covers, and containment socks/booms during operations that pose a spill risk. These devices act as physical barriers to prevent liquids from entering the drainage system.
- Secondary Containment Systems
Implement secondary containment systems around areas where spills are likely to happen, such as around fuel tanks, chemical storage areas, or near machinery that uses hazardous materials. This can be individual spill pallets for drum or IBCs to fully bunded areas of your site.
- Understand your drain plan
Understand your site drain system, do you have a drain shut off on site and if so do you know how to use it?
- Monitoring Systems
Install monitoring systems in drains to detect when hazardous substances enter the drainage system, or when drain levels reach a specific level, enabling a quicker response to accidental spills.
Importance of Drain Protection:
Ensuring drains are protected from spills is crucial to maintaining the integrity of local ecosystems, safeguarding public health, and complying with environmental laws. Failing to do so can lead to long-lasting damage and significant financial and legal consequences.
Download our drain guide – if you are exploring the options for drain covers, we have put together a useful guide to different styles of drain covers.
How do I know how my drains are set up on site?
If you have an environmental permit, as part of your site Environment Management System an up to date drain plan should be available detailing:
- Location of the drains
- Type of drains – surface water, foul water, or combined
- Direction of flow
- Where drains leave your property
- Where they discharge into. For example, a watercourse, clean-water soakaway or sewage treatment works
If you currently don’t have an up-to-date drainage plan available for your site it will be a worthwhile exercise to get this work completed.
There are companies available who can carry out drain surveys for you. They have a variety of tools to hand to monitor and map out your drain plan, this service is usually chargeable and will prove you with a detailed map.
What can I do on site to ensure my drains are protected?
- Schedule regular maintenance checks
- You should also paint/mark your manhole covers according to the standard code:
- blue for surface water
- red for foul water
- red ‘C’ for a combined system where all water goes to a treatment plant
Show the direction of flow with a painted arrow on the manhole cover. Mark a corresponding arrow on the ground so that if a manhole cover is removed it can be replaced with the arrow pointing in the right direction.
- Where spill risks are present ensure you have adequate drain protection equipment to hand. This may be a temporary drain cover or specialist equipment to contain a spill and prevent it entering the drain.
- Install a drain closure device, such as the ToggleBlok system to ensure that if your drainage system can be closed off.
Who can I reach out to for support with my drain plan?
For support with drain protection, please download our free drain protection guide, to give you an overview of drain protection products available.
If you are looking for support with spill management including planning for spills, spill prevention or spill response, please don't hesitate to get in touch with the team. We also work alongside specialist drain companies, that can provide complete drain mapping services, installation of drain protection valves and other specialist equipment if required.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch on 01606 352 679.