If you are a home or business owner, you may have received some bad news recently. You have hazardous materials on your property. If you got that news, what do you do? Do you ignore it, and risk fines from the Environmental Protection Agency? Or, do you act? If you are going to act, you need to know about soil remediation. If you’re not sure what that is, here is some information on the benefits of soil remediation.
What Does Site Remediation Mean?
Site remediation is a technical term. It’s a process of steps companies take when they think there are hazardous materials on a site. First, contractors need to discover the presence of hazardous materials. Usually, that happens through testing, but it can also happen by going through the area’s records. Sometimes, research helps pinpoint the poisons that may be in the ground. After the investigation, the next step is to assess how much of a hazard exists. The contractor will develop a plan to address the issues of the site.
What Is the Site Remediation Process?
After the site undergoes an assessment to figure out what is in the ground, contractors will get busy. They may have to take additional samples at many points on the property. Someone will come out and take samples of the soil and the groundwater all over the property. The samples help the hazmat team strategize a removal of the contaminants and remediation of the area. The strategy has to include a study of how people use the area. For example, if the area contractors need to decontaminate is a parking lot, it needs one type of remediation plan. The plan would be a different one than a home or a daycare would need. The more contact the area has with humans and animals, the more likely a soil remediation process will be necessary.
After contractors create the plan, the next step is to remove the hazardous material from the land if possible. Usually, vacuum trucks are necessary to remove hazardous waste. There are many vacuum trucks available for companies to use. It doesn’t matter if the hazardous material is wet or dry. The vacuum trucks can remove it from the property.
What Are the Soil Remediation Techniques?
Depending on the type of hazardous material, soil remediation techniques vary. Environmental remediation companies can choose which technique would be best for your property. One way that contractors remediate the soil is to contain hazardous material. Sometimes, they can contain it with caps of clay or other substances within the soil. This will prevent the material from leaking and causing damage.
Another technique for soil remediation is to treat it after contractors remove the hazardous material. Depending on the hazard, the contractors may remove the soil entirely or undergo infrared incineration to remove the hazard. They can wash the soil as well. It can also undergo a chemical extraction of any remaining hazardous materials.
Sometimes, contractors heat the soil to remove contaminants. Companies can also use biological agents to “eat” the contaminants. You may have seen examples of these biological agents “eating” an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. Those same oil-eating bacteria can return your soil to health.
After remediation is complete, contractors will do further testing to make sure that your property is free of contaminants. That way, you will have peace of mind that your property is safe and sound.
If you are looking for a remediation plan, contact All American Environmental in N.J. We would love to talk to you about all the ways we can remove hazardous materials from your property. We want to help you get your property safe and back to normal.
