Nichols Brothers Boat Builders – Industrial Stormwater

WaterTectonics worked as part of a multi-vendor team to design and implement this 300gpm WaveIonics electrocoagulation stormwater treatment system for Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, a state-of-the-art boat building company located in Freeland, WA on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound. For over 70 years, Nichols Brothers has been a leader in ship building and repair with experience spanning passenger vessels, work boats, military vessels, fishing boats, and more. When Nichols Brothers made plans to expand their facility in 2006, several agencies and interest groups expressed concerns about possible impacts on the environment and the residential community of Freeland. Working with engineers at Parametrix, Nichols Brothers took on multiple improvement projects over a four year period which included: hydrogeologic and wetland studies, implementation of new source controls, application for a new NPDES permit, construction of below-grade conveyance and a 180,000 gallon stormwater storage tank, and ultimately installation of a WaveIonics 300gpm stormwater treatment system. Today, copper and zinc levels in stormwater runoff have been reduced by over 95% and Nichols Brothers is the first shipbuilder in Washington State to achieve marine water quality criteria (5.8ppb total copper and 95.1ppb total zinc) for their stormwater discharge. In addition, 100% of stormwater runoff from the 6-acre impervious facility is infiltrated following water quality treatment. This project was recognized in 2009 by the American Council of Engineering Companies with a Silver Award in the Environmental category.