ESI'S Commercial Oil Water Separator Services
Keeping every discharge compliant and every inspection uneventful since 1999
In 1999, ESI built something for Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton that no one in the industry had done before: a full oil water separator management program that keeps every separator inspected, serviced, and compliant for one fixed monthly price. Your inspections stay routine, your documentation stays ready, and the 3am compliance call never comes. That program became the gold standard, and it is the same one ESI runs for you.
Proof over pitch. Every time.
So the solution is clear.
Facts & Figures of Choosing the Wrong Oil Water Separator System
$68,445
Per Day, Per Violation in 2026
The Clean Water Act civil penalty for a discharge violation runs by the day, and it climbs every January with inflation. One overdue separator starts that clock.
1 Gal of Oil
Contaminates 1 Million Gallons of Water
That is equivalent to a full year of water for 30 people.
1-3 yrs
of Prison Time
For negligence with no intent or a known violation. Reactive maintenance is how operations drift into negligence and the person who signs the permit is the one who answers for it.
10ppm
Or less of Oil and Grease in Processed Effluent
Other vendors haul your water off as contaminated waste. ESI processes it to less than 10 ppm oil and grease, the separator manufacturer's own refill standard, and returns 100% of it to the system.
ESI clients have never experienced any of the risks once they start working with ESI's oil-water separator systems. Here's why...
THE ESI ADVANTAGE
ESI built its oil water separator management program from its earliest contract at Camp Pendleton in 1999, not as an add on to a hauling route. Separators are not a line item here. They are the key differentiator between compliance and excessive risk.
ESI's processing method averages 97.3% waste minimization when sediment is dewatered and reused, and stays above 80% even when sediment is containerized and disposed of. At Camp Pendleton, that reduction cut manifested hazardous waste so far that the base moved from a large quantity generator to a small quantity generator.
ESI returns all of the processed water to the separator at operational levels, processed to a standard that meets the manufacturer's own refill criteria. You avoid the cost of hauling and disposing of contaminated water and the cost of refilling with potable water, a saving of two gallons for every gallon processed.
ESI processes the separator contents on site through its Transportable Treatment Unit. The captured oil goes back to the base for its waste oil program, the water passes through a series of filters and is stored to refill the separator, and the sediment is dried and tested for reuse as landfill cover or disposed of in a dried state significantly reducing the pounds of waste being hauled off. The separator returns to service on its own processed water, which saves a full tank of potable water with every service. The water comes back at less than 10 ppm oil and grease, less than 30 ppm suspended solids, less than 600ppm COD, and less than 250ppm BOD.
The difference between a defensible record and an empty file is scheduling discipline. ESI maintains each separator on a documented schedule and logs every service, so your maintenance history reads as a continuous, dated record rather than a string of reactive call outs. That record is what protects you when an auditor asks for it.
A pump out vendor empties your separator and leaves. A program manager owns the outcome of your compliance. ESI built this in 1999 as a firm fixed price monthly program, taking full responsibility for inspecting and servicing every separator on the base, no matter how many services each one needed, with every separator inspected at least quarterly. The total cost of the ESI program runs lower than traditional call out servicing.
ESI built the database in 1999 to spot trends and predict service cycles, and delivers monthly inspection and waste minimization reports that let the base demonstrate best management practices. You pull the record for any system by date or range, so when an auditor asks for your history, the answer is a query, not a scramble.
The separator downstream of a wash rack lives under the same permit as the wash rack. ESI manages both, so your separator, your wash water, and your facility environmental requirements perform as one system under one contractor who understands how they interact.
Reporting that survives an oversight review is the whole point. ESI's customer reports document every phase of service and the waste minimization achieved, and ESI flags an overdue inspection before it becomes an enforcement action. You walk into the audit with the paperwork already in order.
The U.S. Government has recommended ESI in over 99% of formal contractor performance evaluations over the past 14 years.
Every person ESI sends to your installation has a direct ownership stake in the outcome. That is not a culture statement. It is a legal ownership structure that changes how people show up. When ESI wins, everyone who executed the contract wins with it.
Who Uses ESI's oil-WATER separator Systems
Servicing Across Regulated Industries.
Military & Federal Installations
Federal and military installations answer to the strictest discharge limits and the closest oversight. ESI has managed separators, sediment pits, and lift stations across Marine Corps, Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Guard sites nationwide, with the documented maintenance history those audits demand.
Municipal Facilities & Public Works
Municipal fleet yards and public works facilities run separators under permits the public's regulators watch closely. ESI keeps the maintenance scheduled and documented and the discharge compliant, so the operation stays clean without adding a single person to your staff to manage it.
Industrial & Regulated Commercial
Industrial facilities operating under NPDES permits and pretreatment standards cannot afford a separator that drifts out of compliance between visits. ESI produces the compliant effluent and the documentation regulators require, so your discharge never becomes the reason for an enforcement file.
Aviation & Air Operations Facilities
Aircraft and ground support maintenance push heavy oil and grit loads into separators that fall behind fast when a vendor shows up only when called. ESI has handled this work at high volume operations, including LAX, and keeps these systems ahead of the curve instead of chasing the next overflow.
Providing More than Just Waste and Oily Water Separation
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Wash Rack Systems
ESI's closed-loop wash rack systems recycle all vehicle wash water, eliminating discharge and compliance exposure for regulated facilities and fleets of every type. For operations managing both wash water recycling and rainwater harvesting, ESI provides both capabilities under one contractor who understands how they interact.
Facilities Support
A separator program runs better inside a facility that ESI already maintains. ESI's facilities support brings the same documentation discipline and self performing crews to the broader site, so your compliance does not stop at the edge of the separator.
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