Lowe’s Home 

Improvement 

Dual Polymer System

Field Trial

Staten Island, NY | Winter/Spring 2011

In 2010-2011, 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 an April 

2011 field trial using StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer System, 

turbidity in discharged effluent was significantly reduced, while

using an all-natural biodegradable biopolymer treatment. In 

addition to producing stormwater well-within regulated 

discharge limits, implementation of StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer 

System would lead to considerable savings for Lowe’s Home 

Improvement by reducing stormwater management costs.

HaloSource®

1631 220th St SE Ste 100

Bothell, WA, 98021

Phone | 425.881.6464

Fax | 425.882.2476

Ryan Wietholter

4/20/2011
2

Lowe’s Home 

Improvement Dual 

Polymer System

Field Trial

Staten Island, NY | 5 April 2011

_______________________________________

From fall 2010 to spring 2011, General 

Contractor E.W. Howell faced a significant 

challenge at their 20-acre construction site in 

Staten Island, NY. Ground disturbing activities 

at the construction site were impacting the 

clarity of surface water being discharged into 

the municipal sewer system. 

The contractor had been using an Active 

Treatment System (ATS) comprised of a 

complex sand-media filtration system or 

“equipment model” that incorporated chemical 

pretreatment to reduce turbidity and meet 

sewer discharge limits of 80-NTUs. 

The filtration 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, chemical pretreatment was necessary 

to remove suspended soil and clay particles

before filtration. Chemical flocculation was used

to prevent fine suspended sediments from

collecting in pores of the filtration media beds, 

reducing head loss and premature backwashing. 

This chemical pretreatment process required

significant mixing and called for a number of mix

tanks, unpopular for their large footprint and 

spatial 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 was 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 DPSTM 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 biopolymers, 

which are 100% biodegradable through 

enzymatic activity.
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engineering firm Stantec, as well as General 

Contractor E.W. Howell, to demo the latest 

breakthrough in chemical innovation. The Dual 

Polymer System is designed to be an easy to 

deploy “high-mobility model” compared to the 

virtually immobile “equipment model”, 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 

fittings from a local hardware store. It was

quickly and easily assembled 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 rent the sand bed 

filtration units, mix tanks, pumps and additional

stormwater treatment equipment that 

comprised their “equipment model”.

The relatively small-sized, light-weight manifold 

was highly mobile and secured easily to the 

rooftop of StormKlear’s® rental SUV for 

transportation to the construction site.

Picture 3. PVC manifold 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. Semi-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.
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A submersible sump pump was connected to

the manifold input via 3-4” hosing. The 

invariable flow pump had an estimated rating of

up to 580-GPM, according to on-site 

construction staff. With this information, 

StormKlear’s technical team used the simple

type of dose table shown below to estimate

efficient and effective site-specific dosing. 

Because of the overall versatility of the Dual 

Polymer System, the StormKlear® team was 

able to easily compensate for the higher-thanaverage flow into a single manifold by 

maximizing their number of sock sets. The 

team loaded two socks into 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 into a 10-

oz mesh geotextile dewatering bag ($100 ea.) 

provided by Bobby Starling, Vice President of 

Engineered Products at Hanes Geo 

Components. In Picture 5, the black 15’x15’ 

dewatering bag is shown unrolled over an 

impermeable semi-white plastic tarp. The tarp

provided a sediment free corridor where clear

treated stormwater would be channeled toward 

a sewer hole or other designated point of 

discharge.

On 5 April, the field trial 

began at 8:00AM. Water 

temperature was 

measured 10.9 degrees 

Centigrade 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 sample 

of distilled drinking water (right).

Picture 6. Background NTU measurement 

(1057 NTUs)

Turbidity meter | Soil Mechanics 

Before beginning treatment, the first chamber 

of the manifold was loaded with two dry 

StormKlear® DBP-2100TM FS socks, and the 

second chamber was loaded with two dry 
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StormKlear® GelFlocTM FS socks. Both of the 

chambers were sealed with standard PVC 

threaded plugs using a plumber wrench.

Soon after pumping began, the geotextile bag 

began inflating with treated flow from the 

manifold. Within minutes, clean water began 

bleeding from the front of the porous 

dewatering bag and was channeled across the 

impermeable ground cover. 

From the beginning of the trial, Andrew began 

collecting treated effluent flowing 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 lowturbidity 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

An additional method, or passive model, can be 

used in conjunction with the semi-passive 

model, thereby adding to the stormwater 

management tool belt. The passive model uses 

ditches, conduits and other channeled surface 

flow coupled with StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer 

Mini Bags. The passive model does not require 

a manifold, pumps or hosing. Instead it uses a 

dry biopolymer flake sprinkled over a channel 

lined with a visqueen wood fiber blanket.

Picture 8. Ditch 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-2100TM MB and GelFlocTM 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. Rendering of lined passive treatment 

ditch with StormKlear® Mini Bags
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During the entire span of the field trial, the Dual 

Polymer System produced clear water below 

the 80-NTU discharge limits without fail. 

Anthony Silveri, Project Manager for EW 

Howell, appeared very pleased with the lowturbidity 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 “highmobility 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 one simple, inexpensive plug-in-play

system. 

StormKlear’s® Dual Polymer System containing

all-natural 100% biodegradable biopolymers,

are available in a wide variety of applications, 

including pre-treatment, as well as passive, 

semi-passive and active treatment systems.

HALOSOURCE®

1631 220th St SE Ste 100

Bothell, WA, 98021

Phone | 425.881.6464

Fax | 425.882.2476