The Secret Lives of Floor Drains

You often walk on them, sometimes drive over them. Chances are, if you’ve noticed them at all, its because you got your shoe caught in one. They’re floor drains – those little round or square grates in your garage or business floor.

Just hearing the phrase "floor drains" is enough to make most people yawn. A hangnail is more exciting. After all, they’re just there to carry away spills and wastewater. But wait - where does all that stuff end up?

Residents of Gorham learned last fall, to their dismay, that the answer is often into the soil and drinking water. When contamination appeared in several wells, an investigation revealed that years of floor drain use at a local auto body shop was the probable cause. Unfortunately, this scenario has also played out in other Maine communities.

We now realize that floor drains are little more than pathways for polluting the environment. So, we at the Department of Environmental Protection are working to warn the public about the hazards of floor drain use and to urge business owners to eliminate those drains leading directly to soil or surface water.

Floor drains in commercial garages, auto body shops, and small engine repair businesses pose the most risk because fuels, antifreeze, oils and solvents may spill or wash into the floor drain. Businesses can seal the drain with cement or connect it to a holding tank and have the contents hauled away periodically by a licensed hazardous waste company. In some towns, drains can also be connected to a municipal sewer.

Homeowners have a role to play, too. Many home garages in Maine have a floor drain to catch snowmelt – and anything else spilled on the floor. At home, common sense and a little forethought can go a long way in preventing problems.

We can help protect the environment by sealing or blocking drains, or taking care that nothing gets spilled, dumped, or washed down them. It’s wise not to fill lawnmowers, snow blowers, or any other small engines with gasoline or oil near a garage floor drain. Oil changes are also best done elsewhere.

Absorbing a small spill with cat litter and then throwing it in the trash may be the best way to clean it up. We can also make sure we recycle waste oil and antifreeze.

Those boring little grates in the floor are not so boring if we remember that they can ultimately lead to our drinking water. The next time you see one, you probably won’t get heart palpitations, but you might remember that they are, quite literally, connected to environment.

More information about floor drains is available from the DEP by e-mail at uic@state.me.us or by telephone at 207-287-3901.

Tammy Gould