“This chamber system is just such an easy system to model on the computer, it’s easy for reviewers to understand and wrap their heads around, easy to maintain for the owner at the end of the day,” Shelton explained. “So, we just really like using these systems. And because of the quantity of the water and the different areas the water was com- ing from, we decided to break it up into the four beds, which we lo - cated under employee parking areas. But we still didn’t meet the DEQ requirement and so the water actually discharges from that system into an aboveground, extended detention basin that offers another amount of water quality and quantity to meet those requirements.” “The water does sit there for a while to settle out any remaining sedi- ments, which would be minimal, if any. The pond holds the water and lets sediments settle out so that cleaner water will discharge through the upper layers of the pond. The pond does have a clay liner so there’s really not much infiltration, but it does permit any sediments to settle out.” Selecting the Proper Systems “We have used some different systems before. This included permeable pavements to other underground storage like the milkcrate container- type boxes. They all work. But what we found is that the StormTech and Barracuda for most of the clients we work for, especially a lot of school systems, they don’t have the time and energy and the personnel to maintain these things. So, the ease of maintenance and inspection is huge in our minds particularly for our school clients because typically they are usually running on a tight budget and they can’t really hire someone to inspect it all the time. So, they can just open an inspection port and look down in, stick a measuring rod in to see if the sediment has built up and that’s it. It’s easy. You don’t have change the filter like you would in a cartridge system and you’re not relying on plants that may live or die and need frequent replacement. Maintenance on the entire underground systems can be performed using a using a vacuum truck or comparable equipment.” “Typically, if we are going to do an underground system, it just makes sense to use the Isolator Row because the DEQ allows a 40 percent pre - liminary reduction, which can be accomplished just by putting that in. You’re going to put in the underground detention so, you might as well get 40 percent of your water quality requirement while you’re at it. A good design practice in an underground detention system is to filter out the water sediments and trash and everything, and the Barracudas are built for that in regard to getting the bigger stuff out before it even gets to into the underground system. ” “When doing an underground detention system anyway and you have to have the pretreatment using the Barracuda, why not add what little it takes to add an Isolator Row, and then you have around 60 percent of your pollutant removal level right there. It’s a win-win. And it’s usually pretty easy to convince the owners that it’s a good way to go.”
Filling in the Requirement Gap “A lot of times the owners can buy pollutant credits from a nutrient bank. Even when we have the Barracuda and the Isolator Row com - bination, for whatever pollutant removal that’s left the owner can buy nutrient credits, even when those sediments or TSS are negligible. Unfortunately, as design engineers we’re bound by the percentages that the regulatory agencies allow. Even when a lot of these systems can get up to 80 percent removal, the regulatory agencies only allow a certain percentage. But in reality, the water is coming out of there real clean.” About the Company Advanced Drainage Systems is a leading provider of innovative water management solutions in the stormwater and on-site septic wastewater industries, providing superior drainage solutions for use in the con - struction and agriculture marketplace. For over 50 years, the Company has been manufacturing a variety of innovative and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional materials. Its innovative products are used across a broad range of end markets and applications, including non-residential, residential, infrastructure and agriculture applications. The Company has established a leading position in many of these end markets by leveraging its national sales and distribution platform, over - all product breadth and scale and manufacturing excellence. Founded in 1966, the Company operates a global network of 63 manufacturing plants and 32 distribution centers. To learn more about the ADS, please visit the Company’s website at www.ads-pipe.com .
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csengineermag.com
November 2021
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