18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · May 2015
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
Reference texts: Nemerow & Dasgupta, Industrial and Hazardous Waste Treatment, 2nd ed.; Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Resource Recovery, 5th ed.; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering, 6th ed.; LaGrega, Buckingham & Evans, Hazardous Waste Management, 2nd ed.; CCME, Guidelines for the Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada (1992); Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999; Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes (1989); provincial hazardous waste regulations (e.g. BC's Environmental Management Act and Hazardous Waste Regulation).
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
An industry generating a liquid waste has four basic management options. (1) Discharge to the municipal sanitary sewer, with or without on-site pretreatment, subject to the local sewer-use bylaw's discharge limits. (2) On-site treatment followed by direct discharge to a receiving watercourse, under a provincial or federal direct-discharge permit that is typically far more stringent than a sewer-use limit. (3) In-process recovery, recycling or reuse, reducing the waste load at its source (e.g., counter-current rinsing, solvent or metal recovery) rather than treating it after the fact. (4) Off-site hauling of the waste (or a concentrated residual such as sludge) to a licensed third-party treatment, storage or disposal facility, appropriate when on-site treatment is not economical for a small or highly specialized waste stream.
