NPDES Compliance and Stormwater System Design

Client: Pacific Coast Shredding

Location: Port of Vancouver, Vancouver, Washington

The client, the operator of a metal-shredding facility on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, was in the process of a major site reconfiguration to accommodate a new freight access rail project when they were issued a new, individual Stormwater National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, requiring them to adhere to more stringent water quality standards. With considerations for future construction efforts and an already strained budget, the client required a phased approach to address their stormwater contamination and avoid the risk of permit exceedances.

Prior to the completion of the new stormwater system, Maul Foster & Alongi, Inc. (MFA) negotiated with the Washington State Department of Ecology to allow interim effluent limits, providing the client with more time to meet the final, more stringent effluent limits. Once a new time frame had been established, MFA worked with the client to generate a state-of-the-art treatment system using electrocoagulation to meet the final effluent limits of the permit and to accommodate the needs of the reconfigured facility. The client is up to date on all of their permitting requirements.

With assistance from MFA, the client achieved:

• A phased approach to NPDES permit compliance negotiated with Ecology
• Reduced permitting and maintenance costs
• A state-of-the-art stormwater treatment system designed to specifically address the limits imposed by Ecology