Assessment & Remediation for Record of Site Condition
Former Trucking Distribution and Service Centre, OntarioAEL was retained to complete Environmental Site Assessments and remediation work in support of a large real estate transaction. The site had been used as a trucking service and distribution facility since the 1950s and included underground and aboveground fuel and waste oil tanks.
The work was complicated by a limited time schedule, early winter working conditions and a sensitive site imposed by O. Reg. 153/04 due to surface bedrock. AEL was able to “segment” the site under O. Reg. 153/04 and apply the sensitive criteria only to those portions of the property affected by shallow bedrock. This resulted in significant savings in assessment and remediation costs while at the same time being protective of the natural environment.
Prior to AEL involvement approximately 2500 tonnes of petroleum hydrocarbon (PHC) impacted soil had been estimated at the site. AEL undertook a Phase II ESA utilizing onsite testing for PHC in soil and groundwater by Ultra-Violet Fluorescence (UVF). The use of UVF enabled AEL to direct the investigation in real time over a 2 day period and delineated approximately 5000 tonnes of PHC impacted soils. UVF provided a greater understanding of impacts at the site, eliminated multiple site visits and waiting for traditional lab results and greatly reduced the time and cost of the assessment.
Off-site disposal of the impacted material would have cost in the order of $350,000. By using ex-situ bioremediation, AEL was able to reduce that cost by more than 50% and allow for reuse of the treated material onsite as residential quality fill material. By September 2007 the formerly impacted soil had been treated to residential quality allowing for closure of the site. Excavation and backfilling costs were also reduced on the project by directing work using AEL’s onsite laboratory.
