General Motors Canada

Paint Shop Process Waste

This automotive plant project involved combining the process waste flow from two paint shops into a common process gravity sewer system leading to the onsite waste treatment plant. 

The calculated maximum combined flow was, in fact, greater than the 1900 USGPM capacity of the existing gravity sewer, which necessitated flow control measures to meter the flows. Since flows from both plants fluctuated with shift loads, storage head tanks were installed to allow the metered flow to function effectively.

Another challenge was the difference in flow velocity. The new paint shop process water was being pumped, while the process waste from the existing paint shop flowed by gravity. In order to discharge the pressure and velocity energy from the pumped process waste, a two-compartment underground concrete quiescent chamber was designed and installed between the pumped and gravity sewers. This allowed the two waste streams to mix and flow to the waste treatment plant much more effectively.

SERVICES
Mechanical Engineering


PROJECT FEATURES
Status: Completed 2003


LOCATION 
Oshawa, Ontario


KEY SCOPE ELEMENTS
Waste flow from two paint shops combined into common process gravity sewer system | Two compartment underground quiescent chamber designed to allow two different waste stream technologies to mix and flow


— Image courtesy of General Motors Canada