Rail Yard Facility Wastewater Treatment System - Kansas and Missouri

Project Description
EWI currently provides wastewater treatment services under contract with a major rail carrier. These services are provided to maintain compliance with the federal Clean Water Act in addition to state and local permitting requirements. EWI oversight spans three primary facilities in the states of Kansas and Missouri.

Rail Yard Facility #1 – Kansas City, Kansas

EWI manages the wastewater treatment system operations on a daily basis. EWI provides technical staff dedicated to facility oversight, including monitoring of system inputs, discharge volumes, and specific chemical treatment parameters. Facility infrastructure coupled with EWI technical support allows for a treatment capacity of up to 10 million gallons per month. EWI is also responsible for managing the treatment system to its fullest efficiency and minimizing the number of times the system is allowed to direct discharge into the Kansas River. EWI works closely with the rail carrier’s union forces to maintain all electrical and mechanical systems associated with the plant and is heavily involved in prevention of locomotive fuel spills at the facility.

Rail Yard Facility #2 – North Kansas City, Missouri

EWI provides similar oversight and technical support for this facility’s wastewater treatment system. This facility treats approximately 400,000 to 600,000 gallons per month for discharge to the local POTW. EWI is also responsible for the full maintenance of the WWTP, associated lift stations, pumps, and piping. Although newer WWTPs exist in the rail carrier’s system, this plant is considered by their environmental department to be the best maintained and operating plant across the system.

Rail Yard Facility #3 – Newton, Kansas

EWI provides general consulting and on-call services as needed to maintain WWTP operations in support of a different railroad contractor. Typical services include troubleshooting of the system, audits, and consulting for improvement based on EWI experience with larger systems.

Project Accomplishments
EWI support services have resulted in cost savings due to reductions in both the volume of treatment chemicals applied and the amount of waste material entering the systems. Our ability to support various rail yard operations allows EWI to better forecast, and possibly prevent conditions which may directly or indirectly affect the treatment systems. Significant accomplishments are further presented below:

  • Maximized treatment capacity while reducing chemical additives
  • Compliance with NPDES and local POTW restrictions without compromising rail yard operations
  • System operations used in support of additional facilities with less controls and oversight on site
  • EWI provides a more cost-effective solution for system operations and maintenance than internal resources