Oil Separators

As per United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway

Administration (FHWA), Urban Drainage Design Manual, Hydraulic Engineering
Circular (HEC) No. 22, 3
rd
edition, 2009

Urban Water Quality Practices
The purpose of an urban Best Management Practice (BMP) is to mitigate the adverse
impacts of development activity. BMPs can be employed for stormwater control benefits
and/or pollutant removal capabilities. Several BMP options are available and should be
carefully considered based on site-specific conditions and the overall management
objectives of the watershed. Following are the various kinds of BMPs that have been
historically used to provide water quality benefits.

Extended Detention Dry Ponds
Wet or Retention Ponds
Infiltration Trench
Infiltration Basin
Sand Filters
Water Quality Inlets
Vegetative practices

Among the all, Water Quality Inlets are suitable in storm drainage systems for removing
sediment, oil and grease.
Water Quality Inlets
Water quality inlets are pre-cast storm drain inlets that remove sediment, oil, grease and
large particulates from parking lot runoff before it reaches storm drainage systems.
They are commonly known as oil and grit separators. Water quality inlets typically serve
highway storm drainage facilities adjacent to commercial sites where large amounts of
vehicle wastes are generated, such as gas stations, vehicle repair facilities, and loading
areas. They may be used to pretreat runoff before it enters an underground filter
system. The inlet is a three-stage underground retention system designed to settle out
grit and absorbed hydrocarbons.

An oil and grit separator consists of three chambers as shown in Figure 1, a sediment
trapping chamber, an oil separation chamber, and the final chamber attached to the
outlet. The sediment trapping chamber is a permanent pool that settles out grit and
sediment, and traps floating debris. An orifice protected by a trash rack, connects this
chamber to the oil separation chamber. This chamber also maintains a permanent pool
of water. An inverted elbow connects the separation chamber to the third chamber.


Figure 1: Cross-section detail of a typical oil/grit separator

Advantages of the water quality inlets lie in their compatibility with the storm drain
network, easy access and capability to pretreat runoff before it enters storm drainage
systems.
Disadvantages include their limited stormwater and pollutant removal capabilities, the
need for frequent cleaning (which cannot always be assured), the possible difficulties in
disposing of accumulated sediments and costs.

As per American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AA
SHTO), Highway Drainage Guidelines, 4
th
edition, 2007

Water Quality Inlets:
These structures (Figure 2), also known as oil and grit separators, consist of a series of
chambers designed to trap and retain sediments and hold floatables (e.g., oil, debris).
Sizing of the storage chambers is generally based on contributing drainage area and,
therefore, cost and size limit their application to relatively small discharges. These
facilities require high levels of maintenance to remove accumulated pollutants. Use of
water quality inlets is best limited to controlled runoff applications (e.g., maintenance
yards, parking lots and certain industrialized areas) where high concentrations of oils
are expected.

Fig 2. Water Quality Inlets

Based on the comparison between AASHTO and FHWA Water Quality Inlets are
proposed in areas wherever applicable (e.g., Parking area).The other aspects including
Location, Type and Quantity are to be finalized during Detail Design stage.