It's not just a drain: Water Filtration

#ItsNotJustADrain: Water Filtration

As most of you will know, those who create waste water in a business, like car washing, have a responsibility to collect and dispose of said water. It is unlawful to discharge chemical laced and contaminated vehicle wash water down surface drains and you can be faced with a hefty charge if you are caught.

Remember, "it's not just a drain" these surface drains actually carry, essentially harmless, rain water to rivers and soakaways, so if contaminated water were to go through these drains, it is potentially harmful to our ecosystems. It can also cause harm to animals that drink from such polluted water. Contaminated wash water must outflow to a mains foul drain and usually via an interceptor.

If there is no foul drain or easy access to a foul drain, then the car wash operator would have to either:

1. Move off site and find a new location
2. Contain and store the water and take it all off site  
3. Fully recycle the water. 

All 3 are time consuming, not cost effective and just a bit of a pain really... so, what can you do?

Well, let me tell you, over the past five years, the boffins at Morclean have been developing a new and innovative, fully surfaced mounted water filtration system, that meets the EA's requirements.

This system will be able to filter the water so well, that it can be discharged to a surface drain or water course. It also eradicates the need for any relocation or excavation or below ground installations; which is very costly, time consuming and sometimes impossible. 

Why not re-use the water? A good question, and we already can. Full water recycling that provides rinse quality water, can be expensive. It's mainly the cost and servicing of a reclaim that makes it prohibitive and recycling is a much more complicated and expensive system.

Over the past 5 years, we've seen unworkable prototypes, failures, brief successes and moments of frustration, but along the way we've learned by our mistakes and we're now seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. 

Photo of an early prototype

Working with both 3D CAD design and common sense, we were able to produce this prototype and it's now the time to take it to test market and gauge our customer's reactions. So far the response has been great.

If you have any feedback or thoughts on this, please get in touch, we would really love to hear them whilst we test the market.