Protecting Water Quality

Protecting the Water
Any water that comes into contact with any raw material, product, byproduct or waste is known as process water. All process water from the Chevron Richmond Refinery receives extensive treatment and is in compliance with all local, state and federal regulatory requirements.


Testing
We conduct numerous onsite tests to ensure that all treated water meets environmental requirements and will not harm marine life. Rainwater that falls on our property is also collected, segregated from process water and tested to determine if treatment is needed. The Refinery complies with all California Regional Water Quality Control Board testing methods and regulations.


Water Discharge Reductions
We have committed significant resources to improve our effluent water treatment system and to increase our ability to separate rainwater from the water we use in the refining process. Since the early 1980's we've reduced:

  • the amount of contaminants in the effluent water discharged into the Bay by approximately 80 percent.
  • the amount of treated effluent discharged to the Bay to 5.5 million gallons per day from 22 million gallons per day.
  • the overall metal emissions in our process water effluent by approximately 80 percent.

In 1987, the refinery completed the deepwater discharge project, which moved our effluent discharge point to deep water in San Pablo Bay. This provides greater than 200 times dilution in the effluent within 50 feet of the diffusers.


Saving Water and Recycling

  Refinery Steam Clouds
Water is used to keep the refinery product streams and equipment cool, similar to the cooling system in cars. By cooling the water in large cooling towers and recirculating it, we minimize the amount of fresh water needed. The water falls in droplets from the top to the bottom of the cooling tower. Large fans pull air from the bottom to the top. The falling water cools when it encounters the rising air and forms clouds of harmless steam. The clouds that can be seen coming from the towers are not smoke, but in fact, condensed water vapor that is formed during the cooling process. They behave like fog (dissipate quickly) and pose no harm to public health or the environment.

Chevron teamed with the East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) to create a joint facility designed to reclaim treated Sanitary District water for industrial use. We have dramatically reduced our use of fresh water by using recycled water for use in the refining process, landscape maintenance, dust control and fire prevention.


Oil Spill Prevention and Response

 Oil Spill Training Drill
Operations personnel assigned to our marine terminal receive extensive training in oil spill prevention. Marine oil-handling equipment, such as pipelines and cargo hoses, receives rigorous inspection and testing at regular intervals, to ensure that we're doing our share to protect the Bay. Our terminal operators, as well as our Fire Department form one of the most capable oil spill response teams in the state. The Refinery's Spill Response Team received praise form the Carl Jochums from the Department of Fish and Game Oil Spill Response Unit. He gave our team high marks for its ability, during "drill play", to lead and coordinate response activities. Our training program exceeds stringent state guidelines, including training in defensive tactics to protect environmentally-sensitive sites in addition to boom deployment techniques at the terminal. Team members participate in regular drills. We maintain over a dozen response boats at our marine terminal, and have over 9,500 feet of boom on hand to contain a spill should one occur.

We are charter members of the "Marine Spill Response Corporation" (MSRC), which since January 2005 includes the "legacy" Clean Bay Cooperative. MSRC is the largest spill response organization in the nation. MSRC maintains 12 skimming vessels as well as with 18 rapid-deployment skimming systems, 20 boom boats and over 80,000 ft. of boom.