Chattanooga, TN
An employee working with welding equipment on top of a tank at Aqua Treat Inc., on Moccasin Bend was injured "seriously and traumatically" in an explosion around 10 a.m. today, a Chattanooga police spokeswoman said.
Officials identified the injured man as Gary Patton, 41. He was welding a wastewater solvent holding tank when an explosion threw him about 50 feet from the tank.
Aqua Treat, located at 617 Hudson Road, is an industrial wastewater treatment facility that processes nonhazardous industrial wastewater and solids, according to the company website.
The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment of multiple injuries, police spokeswoman Elisa Myzal said.
Aqua Treat officials said there was no danger to the public or the environment. The plant ceased operations and employees were evacuated out of the building while fire and police officials investigated the incident and removed the injured worker from the site, Myzal said.
No foul play was initially suspected but it was too early to say for sure, she said. Since the man's injuries were so severe, police responded to the incident to help with the investigation.
Officials were not immediately able to say what was inside the tank where the man was working when the explosion happened.
Aqua Treat, Inc. is an industrial wastewater pre-treatment
facility, and is designed to pre-treat difficult and recalcitrant
non-hazardous (non-RCRA regulated) industrial wastewater and solids. All
accepted waste has been analyzed in our fully equipped lab and been
determined to be non-hazardous. A prerequisite for acceptance includes a
completed profile of the waste, signed by the
generator. The profile serves as an affidavit from the generator detailing
any possible components of the waste. This step is required by permit and
is an added protection against plant contamination.
Once the acceptance protocol is completed, the waste can be
transported to Aqua Treat by our in-house vacuum tankers or delivered to
us. Incoming waste is finger printed upon arrival and once it is deemed
acceptable it is off loaded into our treatment tanks. In every step of our
process, the regulations are meticulously followed.
Also, liquid waste products and solids, are brought to the
facility in drums and 300-gallon plastic totes. All treatment processes
take place on secondary containment concrete pads with drainage to the
primary clarifying tank. All stormwater on treatment areas and unloading
pads drain to the primary clarifying tank for treatment.
Industrial wastewater pretreatment plants are governed by
federal law. Metal limits for our discharge water are mandated by federal
law, but the oversight for these federal regulations falls to local POTW’s.
Aqua Treat is regulated by the Chattanooga POTW, (Moccasin Bend), located 1
mile from the plant, and we discharge directly to the city’s plant. Aqua
Treat is required by Moccasin Bend to maintain a 24 hour flow meter sampling
all of our discharge water. Also, Moccasin Bend regularly installs their
own flow meter to sample our discharge. This scrutiny is added assurance to
the customer that Aqua Treat is always in compliance. Strict enforcement of
waste regulations is insurance for generators that there will never be any
chance of future liabilities.
When choosing a non-hazardous wastewater facility, this
strict adherence to the letter of the law by our plant and by our regulatory
agency has induced many large corporations to choose Aqua Treat.
Aqua Treat Site Map