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5 Things to Know about Environmental Remediation

You have been disposing of wastes at your favorite site where it is not supposed to be. Undoubtedly, too much of everything is hazardous, and after years of dumping, you discover the local authorities have listed it on the top five dangerous waste places. Next, contact the authorities dealing with waste management for environmental remediation. It involves removing contaminants from environmental sources like groundwater, soil, surface water or sediment, to protect the people and environment against ionizing radiation effects.

Several organizations are responsible and assigned by the government to handle the situations, but they cannot do it alone. They cooperate with Environmental Remediation Specialists to make it a success. During the environmental remediation process, the Environmental Protection Agency creates standards that apply when environmental remediation is needed-as some areas, double standards may apply. Though cases are different, environmental remediation companies have critical steps to follow when contacted. Here are five things to know about environmental remediation:

1. Environmental Site Assessment

Before anything else, the site needs to be assessed to determine the kind of pollutant available. It is not a job for the faint-hearted as it involves chemical analysis, soil sampling, and other technical science to determine the nature of pollution. Keep in mind that environmental remediation does not happen immediately after reporting. There are cases where a firm contacts an environmental remediation specialist to know the history of a site before construction.

2. Evaluation

During the site assessment, the specialists will give the remediation team an overview of pollutants on the site. This phase is essential if there was not enough information provided after the site assessment. This info is necessary as the remediation team will use it to address how to go about the contamination, the processes, and the technologies to use.

3. Remediation

When deciding which technology to use, the environmental remediation team will use the original assessment information to identify the technologies to use and the workers’ safety measures when handling remediation. There are different types of remediation in a contaminated site:

  • Excavation: When hazardous materials are in the soils, the remediation team will excavate the dangerous area and dispose of the affected soil.
  • Thermal Desorption: Involves collecting hazardous pollutants using a tool that separates soil with contaminants, making the removal and collection of wastes easier.
  • Nanoremediation: some contaminants may be hard to remediate with other methods, and the best way to handle it, the remediation team will choose the Nanoremediation technology where small reactive agents are used to destroy contaminants. The process is mostly used in groundwater remediation.
  • Dredging: contaminations also affect water sources. In this case, the remediation team dredges the river’s bottom to gather hazardous silt clay and other harmful materials.
  • Pump and Treat: this method is used when remediating contaminated groundwater. The team pumps the affected groundwater to filter it and get rid of contaminants carefully.

4. Community Safety Efforts

Some environmental remediation needs a degree of rezoning to prevent the neighboring community from harm during the process. Negotiating with the community to rezone to a safer place may turn out challenging; they decline to rezone if it impacts their daily life. Environmental remediation specialists must also know about addressing pollution from the beginning. The knowledge will help them communicate with community leaders and members about the degree of contamination and why it is crucial to rezone.

5. Final Assessment

After all the processes have taken place, the final thing is doing a final assessment of the polluted area. The remediation team needs to know if their efforts were a success. If they come in contact with traces of remaining pollution, they will need additional remediation.

Bottom line

These are some of the guides and things you need to know about environmental remediation. It gives you knowledge of how important it is to contact environmental remediation in a contaminated site and why the remediation team needs special knowledge and skills.

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Alex

Alex is the co-author of 100 Greatest Plays, 100 Greatest Cricketers, 100 Greatest Films and 100 Greatest Moments. He has written for a wide variety of publications including The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

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