# Lowe’s Home Improvement Dual Polymer System Field Trial

Staten Island, NY | Winter/Spring 2011

In 20 10

- 2011, General Contractor E.W. Howell was facing the difficult challenge of reducing turbidity in stormwater runoff at

a Lowe’s construction site in Staten Island, NY. During a n April 2011 field trial us ing StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer System
, turbidity in discharged effluent was significantly reduced , while using an all

- natural biodegradable biop olymer treatment . In addition to producing stormwater well

- within regulated discharge limits
, implementation of StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer S ystem would lead to considerable savings for Lowe’s Home Improvement by reducing stormwater management costs.

HaloSource ® 1631 220 th St SE S te 100 Bothell, WA, 98021 Phone | 425.881.6464 Fax | 425.882.2476

Ryan Wietholter 4/20 /20112 

# Lowe’s Home Improvement Dual Polymer System Field Trial

Staten Island, NY | 5 April 2011

_______________________________________
From fal l 2010 to sprin g 2011, General Contractor E.W. Howell faced a significant

c hallenge at their 20

- acre construction site in Staten Island, NY. Ground disturbing activities at the construction site were impact ing the clarity of surface water being discharged into the municipal sewer system

.

The contractor had been using a n Active Treatment System (ATS) comprised of a complex sand

- media filtration system or

“ equipment model ” that incorporated chemical pretrea tment to reduce turbidity and meet sewer discharge limits of 80

- NTUs

.

The f iltration system consisted of pressurized sand bed media held in large steel tanks with under

- drains , requiring frequent backwashing and regular maintenance.

Picture 1. Granular

- media filtration units In addition to the sand bed units shown in Picture 1 , c hemical pretreatment was neces sary to remove suspended soil and clay particles before filtrat ion

. C hemical flocculation was used
to prevent fine suspended sediments from collect ing in pores of the filtration media beds
, reducing head loss and premature backwashing. This c hemical pre treatment process required significant mixing and called for a number of mix tanks, unpopular for their large footprint and spat ial limitations (Picture 2).

Picture 2. Rain for Rent mix tanks

In addition to the lack of mobility and large spatial footprint surrounding the contractor’s

“ equipment model ”
, cost was also an issue

. The estimated annual cost of treating runoff at the 20

- acre site wa s 1.3 million dollars

.

In search of a solution to the “equipment model”
, StormKlear’s ® National Sales Manager Nick Scappini reached out to Lowe’s StormKlear’s ® versatile DPS TM system addresses a wide variety of pollutant types including total suspended solids, algae, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, oils and organic compounds to name a few. The socks come filled with a dry formulation of soluble, all

- natural biopolyme rs, which are 100% biodegradable through enzymatic activity.3

e ngineering firm Stantec
, as well as General Contractor E.W. Howell
, to demo the latest breakthrough in chemical innovation. The Dual Pol ymer System is designed to be an easy to deploy “ high

- mobility model ” compared to the virtually immobile “ equipment mod el ”
, as evidenced in Pictures 1 and 2. In addition, the plug

- in

- play versatility of the Dual Polymer System allows contractors to easily transport the system from site

- to

- site, adapting to revolving and fast paced work environments.

On April 4th , the StormKlear ® team arrived in Staten Island , NY and assembled a standardized semi

- passive manifold unit, which housed the StormKlear® socks to be used during the following day’s field trial . The simple manifold was assembled of 6 ” PVC schedule

- 40 pipe and f ittings from a local hardware store. It was quickly and easily assemble d in the hotel parking lot using only a handsaw and plumber wrench

. The total cost of parts in assembling the manifold was only $ 400, much less than the contractor’s current cost to r ent the sand bed filtration units, mix tanks, pumps and additional
stormwater treatment equipment that comprised their “equipment model”. The relatively sm all

- sized, light

- weight manifold

was highly mobile and secured easily to the roof top of StormKlear’s® rental SUV for transportation to the construction site

.

Picture 3. PVC m anifold mounted on SUV

The semi

- passive manifold was delivered to Lowe’s construction site the morning of the field trial and positioned on a slight slope adjacent to an unlined clay settling basin.

Picture 4

. S emi

- passive manifold (below) “StormKlear is a very mobile and relatively inexpensive form of treatment to remove water turbidity. It has a lot of flexibility to be moved around a construction site to
treat stormwater during all phases of construction”

Justin Baker Stantec, Inc.4

A submersible sump pump was connected to the manifold input via 3

- 4” hosing. Th e invariable flow pump had an estimated rating of up to 580

- GPM , according to on

- site construction staff. With this information, S tormKlear’s technical team used the simple type of dose table shown below to estimate efficient and effective site

- specific dosing.

Because of the overall vers atility of the Dual Polymer System , the StormKlear ® team was able to easily compensate for the higher

- than

average flow into a single manifold by maximizing their number of sock sets . The team loaded two socks in to each manifold chamber , instead of one sock each (4 socks total)

. On average, this arrangement treats up to 300,000 gallons.

Picture 5

. Semi

- passive treatment model

The effluent exit point leading from the manifold was diverted via 3

- 4” hosing in to a 10

- oz mesh geotextile dewatering bag ($100 ea.) provided by Bobby Starling, Vice President of Engineered Products at Hanes Geo Compone nts. In Picture 5 , the black 15’x15’ dewatering bag is shown unrolled over an impermeable semi

- white plastic tarp . The tarp provide d a sediment free corridor where clear
treat ed stormwater w o uld be channeled toward a sewer hole or other designated point of discharge

.
On 5 Apri l, the field trial began at 8:00 AM. Water temperature was measured 10.9 degrees Centig rade and pH was 8.4. Using a LaMatte turbidity meter, a stormwater technician (Andrew) from Soil Mechanics measured the background stormwater turbidity as 1057

- NTU before treatment. This picture shows a 10

- mL sample of the highly turbid background water before treatment (left ) next to a 10

- mL sam ple of distilled drinking water (right).

Picture 6

. Background NTU measurement

(1057 NTUs) Turbid ity meter | Soil Mechanics

Before beginning treatment, the first chamber of the manifold was loaded with two dry StormKlear ® D BP

- 2100 TM FS socks, and the second chamber was loaded with two dry5

StormKlear ® GelFloc TM FS socks. Both of the ch ambers were sealed with standard PVC threaded plugs using a plumber wrench.

Soon after pumping began, the geotextile bag began inflating with t reated flow from the manifold. Within minutes, c lean water began bleeding from the front of the p orous dewatering bag and was channeled across the impermeable ground cover.

From the beginning of the trial , A ndrew began collecting treated effluent flow ing from the geotextile bag for turbidity measurements. Results were immediately within the sewer discharge limits of 80

- NTU, and ranged from 40

- 45 NTUs . Less than 10 minutes later, values ranged from 5

- 8 NTUs

. Andrew’s turbidity values were consistent with data from StormKlear’s turbidity meter, the second meter on

- site. The low

turbidity of the effluent is evidenced by the clear water flowing over this contractor’s hand in the picture ( above ).

Picture 7

. Effluent NTU measurement

(5.5 NTUs) Turbidity meter | Soil Mechanics

A n additional method, or passive model, can be used in conjunction with the semi

- passive model, thereby a dding to the stormwater management tool belt. The passive model uses d itches , condu its and other channeled surface f low coupled with StormKlear’s ® D ual Polymer Mini Bags

. The passive model does not require a manifold, pumps or hosing. I nstead it uses a dry biopolymer flake sprinkled over a channel lined with a visqueen wood fiber blanket.

Picture 8 . D itch before installing passive

treatment model

Picture 8 shows a ditch at Lowe’s construction site used to divert stormwater to a collection basin. Picture 9 shows what this ditch would look like using a passive treatment model. Dry DBP

- 2100 TM MB and GelFloc TM MB polymers are spread throughout the wood fiber lined ditch. This passive model is particularly valuable during unexpected storm events, allowing the contractor to sleep a little better during the inevitable late night storm event.

Picture 9. Render ing of lined passive treatment ditch with StormKlear ® Mini Bags6

During the entire span of the field trial, the Dual Polymer System produce d clear water below the 80

- NTU discharge limits without fail. Anthony Silveri, Pr oject Manager for EW Howell, appear ed very pleased with the low

turbidity measurements from the effluent and asked, “Where were you guys eight months ago!”

Anthony was eager to begin using the Dual Polymer System on Lowe’s construction site, and added that he wishes to use this “ high

mobility model ” during all of his future
stormwater projects. With the extreme versatility of StormKlear’s ® Dual Polymer System , Anthony will be able to address a wide variety of stormwater issues and pollutant types, including total suspended solids , algae, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, oils, organic compounds and many more

— and all this with just o ne simple, inexpensive plug

- in

- play system.

StormKlear’s ® Dual Polymer System containing all

- natural 100% biodegradable biopolymers
, are available in a wi de variety of applications, including pre

- treatment, as well as passive, semi

- passive and active treatment systems.

HALOSOUR C E ® 1631 220 th St SE Ste 100 Bothell, WA, 98021 Phone | 425.881.6464 Fax | 425.882.2476