Vehicles and Water Quality Experience
One specialty of TDC Environmental, LLC the relationship between vehicles and surface water quality. In the urban runoff field, Dr. Moran has been a pioneer in seeking to link pollutants in surface waters to actual vehicle-related sources. Dr. Moran has developed innovative programs (like the Brake Pad Partnership) to address vehicle-related urban runoff problems.
Brake Pad Partnership: Dr. Moran initiated development of the Brake Pad Partnership, a national work group including all major vehicle brake manufacturers, government agencies, and environmental groups (additional details on this program are available in the auto section of the City of Palo Alto's web page). Dr. Moran initiated the program in response to the finding that vehicle brakes are the source of the majority of copper in urban runoff. Elevated copper levels impair San Francisco Bay, as well as many rivers and estuaries in the United States. Dr. Moran provided technical support (regarding sources of copper in urban runoff and control measure cost and effectiveness) for the work group. In May 1999 brake manufacturers promised to conduct additional cooperative research on the environmental impacts of vehicle brakes, and to reformulate products to reduce brake-related copper problems in rivers and estuaries and to prevent future environmental problems from brakes.
Dr. Moran currently represents local governments on the Brake Pad Partnership Steering Committee (she now works under contract to the Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association). Current Steering Committee activities include overseeing brake manufacturer's implementation of a promise to report nationwide copper usage in vehicle brake pads and the Partnership’s implementation of a "research project" to develop a method for assessing the environmental impact of brake pad ingredients, beginning with developing a method for assessing the impacts of copper use in brake pads. Based on Dr. Moran’s experience evaluating the fate, transport, and potential removal mechanisms for pollutants in street and highway runoff, she is providing technical support for the method development activities, which involve conducting research to obtain an understanding of the release, environmental fate and transport, and ultimate potential impact of the material released into the environment from brake pad wear.
Phytoremediation of Highway Runoff: On behalf of Caltrans, the San Francisco Estuary Project retained TDC Environmental to conduct a two-phase project to explore the potential for use of phytoremediation (plant-based pollutant removal) to reduce pollutant levels in highway runoff. In the first phase, TDC Environmental conducted a literature review of the storm water runoff and phytoremediation fields; used knowledge of highway runoff pollutant sources, fate, and transport process to evaluate the available information; and made specific recommendations for future activities to integrate the use of phytoremediation into Caltrans’ management of highway runoff. The literature review considered the broad menu of possible highway runoff control technologies, highlighting those that would most likely be feasible in California highway situations. The promising findings of the first phase lead Caltrans to request that the project’s second phase focus on development of a practical tool for highway drainage designers to use to implement phytoremediation techniques in highway runoff management. TDC Environmental worked with WRECO (hydraulic engineers), Pacific Coast Seed (native plant experts), and Geoff Brosseau (water quality design expert) to prepare a guide with practical examples showing how to integrate permanent vegetative design features into highway drainage to minimize pollutant levels in highway runoff. The examples in the guide include design drawings, sizing calculations, planting recommendations, cost estimates, and pollutant removal information..
Brake Pad Regulatory Analysis: Dr. Moran directed the preparation of an analysis of the regulatory issues relating to vehicle brake pads and their releases of copper into the environment. That analysis, conducted by Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant intern Catherine Engberg, summarized the regulation of braking safety, the regulation of brake pad composition, and the regulatory authorities available to obtain chemical composition data for brake pads. The final result of the analysis, a report entitled The Regulation and Manufacture of Brake Pads: The Feasibility of Reformulation to Reduce the Copper Load to the San Francisco Bay (1994), found that a voluntary partnership between industry and public agencies offered the best and most expeditious solution to the problem of copper pollution from brake pad wear.
Vehicle Maintenance Discharge Reduction Program: Dr. Moran oversaw an innovative, award-winning program for vehicle service facilities and car washes developed by the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant (with the assistance of a group of consultants) that achieved a 94% compliance rate with possibly the most stringent storm water runoff pollution prevention requirements in the nation. The program involved education of both facility owners and the general public, recognition of compliant facilities, sampling of wastewater discharges, and enforcement at non-compliant shops.
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