Welcome to Skagit County

May 7th, 2009

STORM DRAIN SPONGES SOAK UP OIL AND BACTERIA

New Technology Helps Protect Water Quality

Have you ever noticed all of that oil and gas from streets and parking lots heading for the storm drains every time it rains, which is often here in the Northwest? Storm water is one of the biggest sources of contaminants entering our marine waters and shellfish today, but a partial solution may be on the way. The City of Anacortes and Skagit County Public Works are collaborating with the Skagit County Marine Resources Committee (Skagit MRC) to test the feasibility of using sponge inserts installed in storm drains to remove oil and bacteria to keep them out of marine waters and shellfish.

Smart Sponge®, invented and manufactured by AbTech Industries (http://www.abtechindustries.com/), has a unique molecular structure that is based on innovative polymer technologies chemically selective to hydrocarbons. Smart Sponge® fully encapsulates recovered oil and prevents absorbed oil from leaching. Once oil is absorbed, the Smart Sponge® transforms the pollutants into a stable solid for easy recycling, providing a closed-loop solution to water pollution.

AbTech has also developed an antimicrobial technology synergistic with the Smart Sponge® technology. This effort produced Smart Sponge® Plus, which features an antimicrobial agent chemically and permanently bound in a proprietary process to the Smart Sponge® polymer surface which destroys bacteria. Due to this permanent bond, the antimicrobial agent is active but does not leach or leak, avoiding any downstream toxicity issues. AbTech’s antimicrobial Smart Sponge® Plus targets bacteria such as enterococcus, Escherichia coli and fecal coliforms.

Several studies conducted on the East Coast of the U.S. have shown that Smart Sponge® filter units have successfully removed about 70% of the oil and grease and from 50 to 99% of various classes of bacteria. In Norwalk, CT, 275 storm drains with Smart Sponge® filters removed 38,000 pounds of trash and 1,200 gallons of oil and grease, equivalent to about 4.4 gallons of oil per filter unit, over a two-year period.

Several Smart Sponge Plus® units will be installed in Anacortes at the Depot at 2:00 PM on May 13th and at the end of May in Mount Vernon. For further information, please call Paul Dinnel (Anacortes: 360-293-2188 [AM], 299-8468 [PM]) or Tracy Patton (Mount Vernon: 360-336-9400).