How to design an Environmental Remediation Strategy

April 12, 2018 by Alberto Stenico Leave a Comment

A Remediation Strategy can only be designed once sufficient information has been obtained; e.g., without enough pieces of the jigsaw you’ll only be guessing at what the picture might be…!

So, to avoid wild guesses and wasting lots of time and money you do need to do your homework.

Firstly, a detailed Phase 1 (Desktop Study) and Phase 2 (Intrusive Site Investigation) must be completed with adequate information to inform the strategy decision making process. One of the failings of a lot of consultants is that they ‘talk a good game’ but are not fully up to speed with remediation techniques and when undertaking a Phase 2 do not collect additional pertinent information. This leads to uncertainty and hence increased remediation risk profile, and where there is increased risk this can only mean one thing – more cost…!

As an example, we have yet to come across a consultant who obtains a microbial count when it is blinding obvious from the outset that bioremediation will be a major remedial option consideration.

Secondly, there are many other factors to take in to account, such as; timescale for completion, available space, climatic conditions, regulatory concerns, local receptors (you don’t want to be injecting chemicals right next to a sensitive receptor…do you…!), site end use, financial constraints, etc.

Thirdly, you really need to have a lot of experience in remediation implementation. By this I do not mean having a lot of Environmental Consultancy experience, but practical hands on, ‘getting your boot dirty’ remediation experience. Without this you’ll probably spec a pump not man/woman enough for the job in hand, end up with a machine to big to fit on to the site or book too many lorries and end up with standing time charges.

So, to answer the question at the beginning of this post the only real answer is to speak to a specialist who knows what they are talking about paying them for their time and effort, as you would for your accountant, solicitor or landlord…!

We’re always happy to provide a little bit of free advice at the beginning of your journey cleaning up your site so why not go ‘old school’ and give us a call. Or if you prefer drop us an email or launch your pet carrier pigeon in our direction…free bird food for every enquiry received this way…!

Everything you wanted to know about soil remediation but were too afraid to ask!

This free guide will help you understand the whats, the whys and the hows of soil remediation in the simplest terms. Download it now for free!

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What is and what might a Phase 2 Intrusive Investigation involve?

February 15, 2018 by John Cleland Leave a Comment

What does a Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation involve?

The mock conceptual site model we used in our previous posts identified some known and unknown items that require assessment, such as:

Is the neighbouring engineering works or rail yard affecting the site?
Has the leaking fuel tank impacted the ground or groundwater?
Has the former gasworks impacted the ground or groundwater?
Is contamination moving through the ground to neighbouring property?
Are there any vapours or gases that might affect the proposed development?
Is groundwater flowing towards the pond or not?

The unknown parts are what the Phase 2 investigation should attempt to answer.

The Site Investigation

Having an understanding of the typical contamination associated with industrial processes in particular, at least gives the Phase 2 a fighting chance of successfully understanding and fixing problems.

Our investigations would call for collection of soil, groundwater (and possibly surface water), vapour or gas monitoring to confirm sources of risk but also confirm that pathways are in action, if we are collecting groundwater samples we can also calculate the direction of groundwater flow for example.

We can employ a multitude of site investigation techniques, which can be summarised as follows:

We select the technique or combination of techniques on site conditions and to provide the most economic and technically balanced approach possible.

For the sake of this example, the investigation may have included shallow window sampling boreholes and deeper shell and auger boreholes with gas/vapour and groundwater monitoring installations. It is also possible that additional trial pits could have been used to collect soil samples across the site.

As part of any investigation, it is common to include monitoring of groundwater, gas and vapour or other aspect of concern. These monitoring visits can be done over several weeks or months depending on the scope and purpose and are usually detailed as part of the investigation design.

We’re happy to talk so feel free to contact us on 0800 0209 307 or e-mail us on info@soilutions.co.uk. While we finish our White Papers on Phase 1 and Phase 2 Investigations, why not check out these related blogs:

What is a Phase 1 Environmental Investigation?

Do I need a Phase 1 Environmental Site Investigation?

Why might a Phase 2 Intrusive Investigation be necessary?

Why might a Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation be necessary?

February 7, 2018 by John Cleland Leave a Comment

You may have just been presented with a Phase 1 report that found some cause for concern and recommendations to completed further work, perhaps to satisfy the regulators and/or protect your future investment.

While this may be a Phase 2 Investigation, the principles discussed here would also be applied in the investigation of a pollution incident or an area otherwise known to be contaminated, it would just be termed an Intrusive Site Investigation for example.

The parts of a Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation and their place in the process is summarised below:

Your initial evaluation may have identified areas of concern, like the ones depicted in this figure:

If there are gaps in understanding the nature, extent or transport routes for contaminants (or the Pollutant Pathway Linkages [PPLs]), then you will likely need to confirm the presence or absence of these PPLs. The only way you can really do this is through an intrusive investigation that would normally include the collection of soil and/or water samples and possibly gas or vapour monitoring or sampling.

Until you collect evidence of contamination, then all those question marks remain potential risks and nothing more. The Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation should be designed to prove whether these sources, pathways and receptors exist.

What is a Phase 1 Environmental Investigation?

Do I need a Phase 1 Environmental Site Investigation

How to design an Environmental Remediation Strategy

Everything you wanted to know about soil remediation but were too afraid to ask!

What is and what might a Phase 2 Intrusive Investigation involve?

What does a Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation involve?

The Site Investigation

Why might a Phase 2 [Intrusive] Site Investigation be necessary?

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