Sustainable Soil & Groundwater Remediation

For many decades, remediation projects have been evaluated by determining how much contaminant can be removed from soil and groundwater in the shortest possible time. Given what we now know about energy scarcity and global warming, it makes little sense, environmentally or economically, to emit tons of greenhouse gases into the air in order to remove pounds of contaminants from soil and water. Too many remediation projects essentially trade one form of pollution for another. This costs a lot of money, burns a lot of fuel, and does not result in a net environmental benefit. In the past, valuable remediation resources have been squandered hauling contaminated soil & debris from hazardous waste sites to landfills that have also become “Superfund” sites. Sustainable remediation incorporates a judicious evaluation of limited resources when selecting and implementing remedies to maximize the net environmental, societal, and economic benefits of a cleanup action. On-site remediation technology solutions (chemical oxidation total mass reduction at source area and bioremediation source area polishing & plume area treatment) will be presented from a sustainable remediation perspective.