GOING WITH THE FLOW.

Byline: Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

WHEN DOUG PAUL looks down at a storm water drain, he sees opportunity in the sludge, muck and other debris that accumulate in the catch basin beneath the street-level metal grate.

Paul's business is to keep that material - often polluted with urban residues such as gasoline, oil, solvents, herbicides and heavy metals - from going into the storm water drainage system.

"I think the general public is largely unaware of where all this stuff goes once it's in the storm water system," said Paul, general manager of Eugene-based Gibson Steel Basins Inc. "It goes into the McKenzie River and it goes into the Willamette River."

The company for years has manufactured the steel catchment basins found under storm grates. The basins collect sediment and leaves washed off streets and parking lots by rain.

But keeping the sludge out of the storm water drainage system is no longer enough. Increased urbanization - and the massive paving that goes with it - limits the amount of storm water that soaks into the ground, where soils act as a filter.

Federal and state water quality rules are increasingly forcing cities in Oregon and across the country to treat contaminated storm water before it is released into waterways and underground dry wells.

Sensing a profitable niche, Jim Gibson, the company's president, decided three years ago to expand his steel fabrication business into storm water filtration products to give cities and developers tools to keep urban pollution out of waterways and drinking water wellfields.

The company sells several filter inserts that fit in standard catch basins. The filters, made by a California firm, remove the oils, solvents and other debris that make up the bulk of urban pollution.

The plan has thus far proved a winner. Sales at Gibson Steel Basins last year topped $1 million, up 67 percent from about $600,000 in 2001, Gibson said.

"This whole concept in the Northwest is in its infancy," he said. "It's really going to take off."

Responding to amendments to the federal Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, cities across the county are now required to reduce the amount of pollution in storm water in order to meet more stringent water quality standards.

"Our focus has been in storm water filtration because the municipalities are going to have to be proactive in treating pollution because of the federal mandates," Paul said.

There are multiple ways to treat the pollution, from catch basin filters and retention ponds to vegetative buffer strips, engineered wetlands and bioswales. But ponds and swales take up large chunks of a development's property, Paul said. "That can get expensive if you're building a subdivision and you have to set aside one or two lots," he said.

Springfield, for example, requires new developments to treat storm water before it goes into the system. Paul said the company has sold its catch basins and filters for use in the storm drains at the new Jerry's Home Improvement Center, the nearby Wal-Mart and the distribution facility that Mt. Hood Beverage completed last year.

"We offer an affordable solution to storm water pollution," Paul said. A catch basin with insert and filters costs about $750. There are approximately 25 basins in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart store in Springfield.

Chuck Gottfried, the city's water resources program coordinator, said he started looking for ways to comply with the new water quality rules several years ago. "I looked around and found out we had a cutting-edge company right here in our own back yard," he said.

Gottfried said he wanted to find out what products and technology were on the market and what type of burden the city would be placing on residential, commercial and industrial developers.

"We had a lot of questions about what worked and what was economical," he said.

Paul offered to conduct a pilot program with Springfield and installed 31 filter inserts in storm drains across the city.

"We've pulled 2,000 pounds of debris from those filters over the past 20 months," Paul said.

"We've found it great working with Doug (Paul) because he gets out and covers a lot of ground and he's a cheerleader for clean water," Gottfried said.

"Part of doing the right thing in pollution control is having the right products available," he said. "If you can't find these kinds of things and people to service them, it makes compliance so much harder."

Eugene will begin requiring new developments to treat storm water next year, said Therese Walch, the city's water resources manager.

"The primary idea with the new requirements is to ensure that water quality conditions don't deteriorate with new development," she said.

When Eugene adopts the new water quality regulations, Walch said, it also may revise its storm water utility fee so that existing businesses that retrofit their drainage systems to reduce pollution get a break on their bills.

But simply requiring new development such as large retail stores to install the filters won't be a solution, Paul said.

"These filters don't do the job unless they are cleaned and maintained," he said. The filters the company installed for its pilot program in Springfield are cleaned three times a year.

To exploit that service niche, Gibson launched a company called Stormwater Protection Systems. The firm maintains drains and replaces filters for privately owned developments.

Paul said cities in the past haven't required businesses to maintain their drains. "But they are getting more teeth to enforce that and they are getting tougher," he said.

In Bend, where the company has found a receptive audience for its products, the city now requires private developments to have storm water drainage maintenance plans as part of the permitting process, Paul said.

Gibson Steel Basins, because it is only one of a handful of its kind in the Northwest, is making inroads into Idaho and Washington state, Paul said.

"Doors are opening to us in other states and we have to take advantage of that," he said.

Gibson said the operation now employs 12 full-time workers and he expects to hire more as demand picks up.

"We think this thing is going to explode and the market will dictate what we do as far as expansion," he said.

Gibson Steel Basins Inc. and Storm Water Protection Systems

Business: Makes storm water catch basins; sells basin filtration products; provides maintenance services for storm water drainage systems.

Owners: Jim, Lisa, Chris Gibson 

Headquarters: Eugene

2002 sales: $1 million

Employees: 12

On the Web: www.gibsonsteelbasins.com

CAPTION(S):

James MacMillan works on a storm drain filtration system at Gibson Steel in Eugene. The drain has a trap that keeps harmful materials found in storm water, including urban residues such as gasoline, oil, solvents, herbicides and heavy metals, from draining into local rivers. Drain components at Gibson Steel are dipped in tar as a rust preventive, one of the final steps before they are ready to be shipped. The company sells several filter inserts that remove oils, solvents and other debris from storm runoff. The market is growing. Sales at Gibson Steel Basins last year topped $1 million, up 67 percent from 2001. Gibson: Company a leader in storm filters Continued from Page F1 Please turn to GIBSON, Page F2