A little confused about secondary containment
A little confused about secondary containment
(OP)
A diked tank farm has several interconnected tanks and the stored fuel oil will be dispensed by top loading 3000 gallons fuel oil service trucks. Per Mass. DEP, is it necessary to have a secondary containment outside the diked tank farm to contain overfills of the oil service trucks?
If secondary containment by berming the area is not feasible is it then necessary to have an oil water separator at the storm drain servicing the area mentioned above?
Also within that same property, fuel oil trucks are parked overnight. Is it then necessary to have secondary containment where the trucks are parked?
Note that the whole operation described above is near a river in which the nearest storm drain discharges?
If secondary containment by berming the area is not feasible is it then necessary to have an oil water separator at the storm drain servicing the area mentioned above?
Also within that same property, fuel oil trucks are parked overnight. Is it then necessary to have secondary containment where the trucks are parked?
Note that the whole operation described above is near a river in which the nearest storm drain discharges?





RE: A little confused about secondary containment
Which says pretty clearly that the truck-loading area and the truck staging area come under the same federal regs as your diked tank farm.
If you read on down in the SPCC reg, you'll find that the federal law is probably more strict than the DEP in that I can't find the option of doing oil separation on the storm water runnoff in the SPCC.
David
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
The old law used a lot of weasel words that people took to mean that specific provisions did not apply to them. The new law tightened that up a lot and the result is full employment for PE's that sign the SPCC Plans. There are a LOT more sites that now need plans than there are PE's to sign them. The latest change added a provision for small operations that have less than 10,000 gallons of storage (but more than 1,320 gallons) that they can build their own plan without a PE--of course the law doesn't say exactly how they will get conversant enough with the very complex law to be able to build a one-off plan.
Good luck,
David
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
All works great until you evaluate your SPCC plan. Hence why one should always look at tertirary containment.
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
"Containment dikes must have 10% more volumetric capacity than the largest storage tank located within the containment area."
"Dikes and surface area must be constructed of materials compatible with the liquids they are to contain; capable of withstanding a full hydrostatic head of liquid discharge; capable of restricting vertical and horizontal liquid movements at a rate not to exceed thirty-five hundredths of an inch per day; and contain no open drains."
"Any storage tank over 15 feet tall shall be placed no less than 4 feet from the inside base of the secondary containment facility dike."
(http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0594_2.html)
In Pennsylvania, rainwater requirements are more vague:
"The containment area provided by the dikes or other method of secondary containment shall have containment capacity sufficient to hold the volume of the largest single tank, plus a reasonable allowance for precipitation based on local weather conditions and facility operation."
(h
What is a 5-year flood, the rainwater rates are based on frequency data often available from the USDA and other sites. Given the rate of rainfall and the area of drainage (not the same thing as the area of the tankfarm area), you can calculate the additional volume needed.
Note that by Ohio law, as with many states, the drain valve must be locked to prevent tampering. Also, many states require remote level sensors now with adequate maintenance to reduce spillage. But, this is just common sense in most instances.
Dirk Willard
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
RE: A little confused about secondary containment
The entire SPCC regulatory system was started because of a spill into the Ohio River.