Last summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its underground storage tank (UST) regulations for the first time in over 2 decades. With this update, owners and operators of UST systems have additional compliance requirements—including new obligations for release detection.
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The EPA and states require tanks to have release detection in order to discover leaks swiftly before tank product contamination migrates beyond the UST site. UST systems storing petroleum must have some form of release detection system installed. Common release detection methods include tank tightness testing, statistical inventory reconciliation, secondary containment with interstitial monitoring, groundwater or vapor monitoring, manual tank gauging, or use of an automatic tank gauging (ATG) system.
Regardless of the type of release detection system your facility uses, knowing the tricks to release detection can keep your business in compliance with the regulations. This most critical compliance trick is knowing that your release detection system is installed, calibrated, operated, and maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions.