Site owners are obliged to determine the quality of the soil on their site. Intertek-Polychemlab has gained experience in evaluating and adapting site remediation plans. From this experience, we know that such plans sometimes contain mistakes, that their efficiency in terms of environmental improvement is not always very high and that their cost effectiveness frequently leaves much to be desired.

Examples of site remediation plans include the following:

• A site was classified as having multiple contamination, since copper was found at one place, while the site also had an overall contamination with organic substances. Due to the multiple contamination, clean-up initially appeared to be difficult. We recommended separate excavation of the copper-contaminated section, which made a simpler, and thus cheaper, remediation technique possible for the overall site.

• Groundwater remediation was proposed because at two places on a site, higher-than-allowable concentrations of pollutants were detected in the groundwater. Upon inspection of the clean-up plan, we found a discrepancy between the soil pollution and the groundwater pollution. Further investigation proved that the soil was clean, and that the water pollution was caused by a neighbouring company.

• The soil had been polluted to a depth of 8 m, and it was proposed that the top layer be cleaned using a combination of groundwater infiltration and withdrawal. Since the proposed treatment of the polluted top layer would have hardly any positive environmental effect, and since the contaminated top layer did not pose any risks, the remediation activities could be limited to the groundwater.

In all three cases, evaluation of the remediation plans resulted in substantial cost savings.
A second opinion will help you ensure that:

• remediation takes place only when necessary, and
  

• remediation takes place in a sound, environmentally efficient and cost-effective manner.

If you would like more information from one of our experts, then please contact Intertek Polychemlab by Email, or by telephone +31 46 476 27 13