On this episode of The Intake, an ATLAS-SSI podcast, host Daniel Litwin was joined by ATLAS-SSI VP, Sales Ford Wall, Engineering Manager John Catt and Sales and Sr. Design Engineer Henry Schilling.
The quartet dove into the complexities surrounding Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act and compliance with that regulation, which aims to reduce the impact of intake structures of native aquatic life.
“The ruling, historically, goes back to the 70s,” Wall said. “Originally, a lot of people were concerned about the environmental impact of large utilities withdrawing large amounts of water. It’s been quite a roller coaster ride until the passing of the law in 2014. Since 2014, the utilities have been scrambling to develop the best technology for their particular plant.”
ATLAS-SSI is uniquely equipped to help facilities utilizing these intakes ensure they’re compliant with this critical regulation, keeping operations efficient and cost-effective while also doing their part to protect the world’s aquatic life.
In particular, ATLAS-SSI is ready to partner with existing plants and their unique, existing, site-specific issues, which create greater challenges related to 316(b) compliance than those faced by new constructions that can be built to modern specifications.
However, ATLAS-SSI is also well-equipped to help with every aspect of those newer facilities, as well.
“One of the things (we do) is offer a service to the engineering firms and the plants early in the process,” Wall said. “We get involved with them, and that’s crucial in the process. … There’s a lot of communication, and we offer that to them free of charge to work with them early on in the process.”
Litwin, Wall, Catt and Schilling also explored ATLAS-SSI’s SmartScreen Technology®, fish-handling screen capabilities, on-site service and more surrounding the company’s industry-leading ability to help ensure 316(b) compliance.