The Clean Water Act

To preserve the environment simply and efficiently it is mandatory to treat the oily rainwater polluted with hydrocarbons before the discharge into the environment. Thanks to mobile and easy-to-use solutions, GMT International & AKHELEC offer the best alternatives to conventional operations of pumping, transporting and destroying waste. In this article, you will discover what the Clean Water Act says, our solutions for filtering rainwater polluted with hydrocarbons and the qualities of our F50 rainwater filter.

What does the Clean Water Act say on water filtration?

There are 3 main laws to fight against the phenomenon of water pollution:

The 1964 law makes it possible to provide drinking water to all French people, while allowing industries and agriculture to have the quantity necessary for their operation. It concerns all the waters present in the territory, with the exception of mineral waters.
The 1992 law aims in particular to protect and control water quality, preserve aquatic ecosystems, as well as develop and enhance the country’s water resources. Water is thus qualified as “the nation’s common heritage”.
Finally, the law on water and aquatic environments (or LEMA) of 2006 provides new tools to fight against diffuse pollution of waters. In particular, it specifies the prohibition on dumping polluting products such as lubricants and oils. Criteria for the concentration of hydrocarbons in the water must also be observed. It “prohibits discharge into surface water, groundwater and seawater, by direct or indirect discharge or after runoff on the soil or infiltration, of lubricants or oils, new or used, belonging to the following categories: oils for engines and compressors and engine base oil, oils used as raw material for the manufacture of lubricating additives, for the preparation of lubricant additives. »

These water laws are associated with 2 standards and directives:

The REACH standard helps provide a legislative framework for the manufacture and use of chemicals across Europe.
The RoHS directive aims to limit the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybromobiphenyls (PBP), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). These products are indeed dangerous for humans and for the environment.

Thus, the various laws on water imply an active engagement of companies, and therefore consequently adapted solutions to protect this natural resource as well as the environment.

EN IEC 61936-1 international standard

International Standard IEC 61936-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 99: System engineering and erection of electrical power installations in systems with nominal voltages above 1 kV a.c. and 1,5 kV d.c., particularly concerning safety aspects.

Transformer oil or insulating oil is an oil stable at high temperatures which has excellent electrical insulating properties. It is used in oil-filled transformers (wet transformers). Its functions are to insulate, suppress corona discharge and arcing, and to serve as a coolant.

Transformer oil is most often based on mineral oil, but alternative formulations with different engineering or environmental properties are growing in popularity.

This international standard notably explains that oil immersed transformers shall be equipped with a total retention bund able to collect 100% of the dielectric volume contained in the transformer.

Other sections deal with fire protection items.

Filtration of water polluted with hydrocarbons or dielectric oils

The FILTRELEC® range was developed by GMT International, in partnership with TOTAL and the Institut Français du Pétrole Energies Nouvelles. The entire range is made in France.

Filtration solutions for fixed installations offering a wide range of filtered water flow rates and operating by gravity:

F5: “ refillable ” filtration cartridge ; flow rate of 5 litres / minute and possibility of mounting several cartridges in parallel
F15: filtration cartridge offering a flow rate of 15 litres / minute and possibility of mounting several cartridges in parallel
HYDROBLOC: (patent shared with ENEDIS): underground prefabricated concrete device containing from 1 to 5 F15
F1500: high flow filter allowing to treat 1500 litres / minute

Portable device for recovering leaks identified on equipment installed outdoors HOLYBAG® (shared patent GMT / RTE).

New F50® mobile on-site depollution device. All our products have been tested and certified (strict compliance with the Clean Water Act) by external organizations. All of our products comply with REACH and RoHS regulations and directives.

F50: a mobile solution for filtering water polluted with hydrocarbons

A multifunctional solution

An alternative to traditional pumping, transport and reprocessing solutions in an approved oily water centre, the F50 provides the following advantages:

Reduction of pollution control costs
Reduction of the carbon footprint of the depollution process
Autonomy in the treatment of oily water
Operator-oriented product: easy to handle by one person, ergonomic, easy to use and set up without tools

A product that complies with the legislation

This solution was created in order to comply with the laws in force regarding the filtration of water polluted with hydrocarbons. It allows you to respect the environment, fauna, flora and surrounding soils.

This filtration unit can operate completely autonomously in combination with our “BUNDGUARD” system (control of the feed pump regulator according to the level and the presence of oil).

Durable, reliable and easy to maintain

By using an absorbent media insensitive to ambient temperature (-40 ° C / + 50 ° C) the service life of the filtration unit is greatly increased. The absorbent media should only be replaced when it is saturated with hydrocarbons.

When saturated with hydrocarbons, the absorbent media forms a tight plug and all of the fluid (water / oil) entering is then drawn up to the pit polluted by reflux. This avoids any risk of accidental pollution.

At saturation, the replacement of the pre-filtration and filtration baskets is carried out quickly and without tools.

Contact us for more information

To preserve the environment in accordance with the Clean Water Act and at a limited cost contact us quickly ! Our teams are at your disposal to answer all your questions about our oily water filter and other solutions.