How do you deal with land contamination?
Options for treating contaminated soil include:
- Biological treatment/bioremediation uses bacteria to break down substances in the soil.
- Chemical oxidation converts contaminated soils into non-hazardous soils.
- Soil stabilisation involves the addition of immobilizing agents to reduce a contaminants' leachability.
What is classed as contaminated land?
Land is contaminated when there are polluting substances in, on or under the land. This may mean that the substances have been left in buildings or on land or that the substances are buried in the ground.
What does a contaminated land consultant do?
The central duty of a contaminated land consultant is to find cost effective and safe solutions to improve the condition of contaminated land. You'll do this by designing effective remediation schemes.
How can ground contamination be prevented?
What can I do to reduce pollution?
- properly dispose of all waste; don't dump chemicals down drains or on the ground.
- test underground fuel oil tanks for leaks; if possible, replace them above ground.
- safely store all chemicals and fuels.
- minimize the use of chemicals; always use according to directions.
Who is responsible for contaminated land?
Once it has been established that the land is classified as contaminated, there will be a responsibility for the relevant person to clean up, i.e. remediation. The Environmental Protection Act states that the responsibility for cleaning up contaminated land is generally the person who caused the contamination.
When should contaminated land be cleaned up?
Where the pollution threat to a receptor is deemed significant, then a 'significant pollution linkage' has been identified. The site must then be cleaned up to break all significant pollutant linkages through a process of remediation.
How long does contaminated land last?
Based on a number of sites that have been investigated throughout the country, time scales have varied from approximately one to five years, with some sites being investigated over longer periods before a decision is reached on whether or not it requires remediation (clean up).