Water Recovery Documentation- what type do you guys use?

blastoffvictoria

New member
Hi, first time poster here. Just started a new business in Victoria, B.C. Canada. I am going to be the first to offer wastewater recovery in a mobile operation in my area. The local Regional District Head of Environmental Services wants to know what type of proposal in terms of an operation system for treatment, tracking, containment and otherwise we could offer.

I have a few companies that will take the wastewater from us and treat it at their facility. One such facility charges $200 for a 50 gallon drum. I'm not sure if the cost will prohibit potential clients from wanting to use the service. Most companies just want to use our service to clean the oily/dirty engine bays of their utility vehicles, dump trucks, garbage trucks, etc. I'm not sure how quickly that 50 gallon drum will fill. Is anyone doing the same with their business? How much water is one likely to use cleaning an average sized garbage truck engine bay? We aren't talking spotless clean its just to get the excess oil/dirt off to allow the mechanics a cleaner area in which to work. Also, what type of documentation (cradle to grave) do any of you use to collect the wastewater, to prove that it is getting accounted for prior to treatment.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer a newbie!

Cheers,
Aaron @ Blast Off Pressure Washing Ltd.
 
Hi Ben,

We haven't washed an industrial vehicle engine bay as yet. I'm not sure if the whole system (containment mat, pumps, etc.) is worth the cost if no one will use it. I think the moral ground is the only reason companies would do it but some have said they aren't allowed to. So unless these businesses are doing this cleaning on their own and are keeping it quiet then there should be enough demand.
 
Here is an example: You are using a 5.5gpm hot water machine, degreasing engines, frame, transmission, etc..., in about 10 minutes your 55 gallon drum is full and you are starting to fill another. When you are done filling drums and then have a company haul them away, are you paying this out of the job or is the owner paying this separately?

Here in the states, most of the time the facility has an oil water separator, grease trap or other method of dealing with the oily mess if they routinely work on commercial vehicles.

There are other ways to deal with these issues, the owner of the facility should be handling the disposal of the wash water as it is his problem from his vehicles.

You can spend a few thousand dollars on a decent wash mat, more on pumps, oil pads/socks, traction mats (so the wash mat does not tear when trucks have rocks in the tires or other sharp debris in the tires) and other pieces needed to wash on mats but how much will you make on the job to justify that expense?

Will the owner of the facility take care of the wash water, they might be able to? Have you asked anyone yet or are you just trying to have everything hauled away without knowing for sure? I don't know of any shop that will pay $200 per drum of anything to be hauled away, lots of more ways to handle this situation, if you have not asked the shop, you need to go talk to them first and get on the same page first, saying something like $200 per drum to dispose of oily wash water would get you kicked out of most shops here, if not harassed, teased and possibly more before tossing you out on your backside.

There is time for the assembly and teardown of the wash mat, besides wiping it down for the oily/greasy residue that is stuck there from the washing, this would have to be done or when you fold up the wash mat, it will get everywhere so the next job will have it on their floor causing you to clean up after your mat on each job for a while until it is gone from your mat.

When trucks drive off the mat, they will be tracking what is in the mat onto the shop floor, outside the building, etc....more mess for you to clean up. Have you really thought this out a lot? There are many ways to do this differently.

How many customers want this done?

How far will you have to drive to the customers?

Adding up this info, can you justify the mat, track, pumps, etc..... expense with the work that is agreed on or contracted out to you?

Before spending a dime on anything and talking numbers to the shops, I would talk to them to see if it worth the effort as a lot of shops do this in-house and or use rags and degreaser so to not make huge messes in their shops, and see how they can dispose of the wash water, they probably can already.

Good luck.
 
Here is an example: You are using a 5.5gpm hot water machine, degreasing engines, frame, transmission, etc..., in about 10 minutes your 55 gallon drum is full and you are starting to fill another. When you are done filling drums and then have a company haul them away, are you paying this out of the job or is the owner paying this separately?

Here in the states, most of the time the facility has an oil water separator, grease trap or other method of dealing with the oily mess if they routinely work on commercial vehicles.

There are other ways to deal with these issues, the owner of the facility should be handling the disposal of the wash water as it is his problem from his vehicles.

You can spend a few thousand dollars on a decent wash mat, more on pumps, oil pads/socks, traction mats (so the wash mat does not tear when trucks have rocks in the tires or other sharp debris in the tires) and other pieces needed to wash on mats but how much will you make on the job to justify that expense?

Will the owner of the facility take care of the wash water, they might be able to? Have you asked anyone yet or are you just trying to have everything hauled away without knowing for sure? I don't know of any shop that will pay $200 per drum of anything to be hauled away, lots of more ways to handle this situation, if you have not asked the shop, you need to go talk to them first and get on the same page first, saying something like $200 per drum to dispose of oily wash water would get you kicked out of most shops here, if not harassed, teased and possibly more before tossing you out on your backside.

There is time for the assembly and teardown of the wash mat, besides wiping it down for the oily/greasy residue that is stuck there from the washing, this would have to be done or when you fold up the wash mat, it will get everywhere so the next job will have it on their floor causing you to clean up after your mat on each job for a while until it is gone from your mat.

When trucks drive off the mat, they will be tracking what is in the mat onto the shop floor, outside the building, etc....more mess for you to clean up. Have you really thought this out a lot? There are many ways to do this differently.

How many customers want this done?

How far will you have to drive to the customers?

Adding up this info, can you justify the mat, track, pumps, etc..... expense with the work that is agreed on or contracted out to you?

Before spending a dime on anything and talking numbers to the shops, I would talk to them to see if it worth the effort as a lot of shops do this in-house and or use rags and degreaser so to not make huge messes in their shops, and see how they can dispose of the wash water, they probably can already.

Good luck.

Chris, that's a great post!

Blastoff, you're getting some super advise here from one of the best.
 
Wow that $4 a gallon. Just to give you a comparison our cost is .035 a gallon and very few are willing to pay that.
 
Here it is $0.50 per gallon to dispose of hazardous chemicals, oily water, and other contaminated water issues so disposing of it can be expensive for most and most will not pay for that here, especially when the shops are made with oil water separators and other equipment so that hauling away oily wash water is not needed.

Thanks Ted.
 
Sounds like the regional district head is just asking you what you are going to do? I have obtained 3 municipalities approvals for dumping into the sanitary sewer with the use of basic solids seperation (drop out tanks) and oil absorbent pillows in my tanks. One of those requires basic record keeping that you turn in at the end of the month, others dont. Pretty basic here, local landfill carries a permit for oil soaked materials so I can just dump the pillows.

Also, check with local pond liner builders or one of the big guys (www.btlliners.com) they build custom containment mats all the time. Then you can get exactly the size you need for less than the cookie cutter ones you find online. If your interested message me, a friend owns this company and I can give you contact info, we have discussed these mats and he knows whats up and what we need.

I think you can do this and be able to offer a reasonably priced service. If you need to see a sample form for record keeping I can provide that too. Good luck.
 
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