April 16, 2008 - EarthFax Completes Design of a Storm Water Perchlorate Treatment System

Salt Lake City, Utah – EarthFax Engineering, Inc. ("EarthFax") has completed the design of a treatment system to remove perchlorates and other propellants from storm water runoff from the Bacchus Works of ATK Launch Systems.  Located in Salt Lake County, Utah the facility manufactures rocket motors for use by the U.S. Department of Defense.  Waste propellants are disposed of at an open burning/open detonation (“OB/OD”) site at the facility.  The Utah Division of Water Quality determined that runoff from the OB/OD site contained unacceptable concentrations of perchlorate and other propellants.  As a result, ATK was required to treat the runoff prior to discharge to an adjacent wetland.

The system designed by EarthFax includes structures to collect runoff from the 5-acre OB/OD site, a below-grade settling basin and oil skimmer, a storm-water surge basin, booster pumps, self-cleaning fine-sediment filters, and a macroporous strong-base-anion selective resin.  Treated water discharges to the adjacent wetland, thereby maintaining the hydrologic conditions that are important to the health of the wetland.  The system was also designed with a manual bypass whereby water from minor runoff events could be sampled in the holding basin and discharged directly to the wetland if water-quality criteria were met without treatment.

EarthFax also provided construction supervision during installation of the treatment system.  Operation of the system occurs automatically, and is monitored through the plant SCADA system via an instrumentation network that was designed under subcontract to EarthFax.
EarthFax Engineering, Inc. is a consulting engineering firm that was founded in 1982, with offices in Midvale, Utah.  Its personnel have broad professional experience in the areas of environmental engineering, civil engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrology and hydrogeology, geology, land reclamation, and environmental planning.  Additional information regarding EarthFax can be found at www.earthfax.com.