Patent ID: 8097155

Claim:
An above ground water clarifier for filtering out solids and/or oil from water before release to a sewer system, the above ground water clarifier comprising: an above ground tank with a plurality of distinct chambers for receiving water having measurable amounts of solids and/or oils, each chamber having a top portion and a bottom portion and being fluidly connected with at least one other chamber via a conduit positioned between the top and bottom portions, with the chambers formed to settle solids at the bottom portions and oil at the top portions and thereby remove solids and/or oils from fluids passing between the chambers via the conduit a drain system connected with the chambers to allow a user to selectively feed water from at least one of the chambers to a sewer or other tank; wherein the plurality of distinct chambers includes a recovery chamber and a sump chamber, and wherein the above ground water clarifier further comprises: a spray system for receiving water from an external system and disposing the water onto a filter tray rack; a filter tray rack for filtering the water as it falls through the filter tray rack; wherein the recovery chamber is positioned below the filter tray rack for receiving and collecting the water filtered by the filter tray rack; and wherein the sump chamber is in fluid connection with the recovery chamber for receiving water from the recovery chamber and pumping the water to an above ground reclaim holding tank; wherein the drain system is a gravity fed drain system connected with the chambers to allow a user to selectively gravity feed water from at least one of the chambers to a sewer or other tank; wherein the filter tray rack includes a plurality of removable filter trays, each subsequent filter tray disposed directly beneath a preceding filter tray such that water dripping through the preceding filter tray drips into the subsequent filter tray for further filtering; wherein each filter tray includes a perforated mesh support and a removable foam filter supported thereon, the removable foam filter being operable for filtering out solids from the water; wherein each foam filter is of a distinct texture from one another to filter out solids of different sizes; wherein the spray system further includes at least two spray manifolds positioned above the filter trays and formed to spray the water onto the filter trays; and a plurality of sump pumps positioned within the sump chamber, each sump pump being placed on a tiered stand at a different elevation within the sump chamber for pumping the water from the sump chamber to the reclaim holding tank.