Soil remediation is part of a broader effort known as environmental remediation. It restores previously contaminated land to an uncontaminated state and is an important part of sustainable development, especially in respect of resource management and reducing reliance on landfill (Scottish Environment Protection Agency, n.d., p. 4). Most countries around the world are actively engaged in some form of soil remediation. Each year in the European Union, several billion euros are expended on the remediation of land affected by contamination. It is important that this money is spent intelligently and appropriately (Elorriaga, 2014, p. 2).
What is soil remediation?
Remediation refers to techniques and processes for treating soil in order to contain, remove, degrade or render contaminants less harmful. These techniques directly treat the medium with the overall aim of decreasing actual or potential human or ecological risk from the contaminants (Pierzynski and Sims et al., 2000, p. 377).
If there is no immediate threat then the contaminated area may just be isolated to prevent further spreading. The clean-up is considered successful once contamination levels are reduced to background levels or those found in uncontaminated soils. In reality this is difficult to obtain and the costs may be difficult to justify against the benefits, this has led to a greater focus on the reduction of risk to an acceptable level rather than background levels (Pierzynski and Sims et al., 2000, p. 379).
There are examples of small scale soil remediation such as a home owner using remediation techniques on their land due to an increase in lead. There are also large scale examples, for instance after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster Japan ...
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...’s rapid development is putting increasing pressure on local water resources but has simultaneously deteriorated the quality of urban groundwater in many cities. Groundwater has been significantly polluted in over half of China’s 660 cities. Contamination transfer through the soil is partly responsible for this. The government has finally recognised this issue and is now spending tens of billions of Yuan each year on heavy metal soil remediation and treatment of over-exploited groundwater. The Shanghai Centre for Soil Remediation was opened in 2005 to study soil remediation technologies on industrialised areas and keep a close eye on toxic soils in China. Sino-Singapore Tianhin Eco-City is being developed on polluted marshlands; this process has so far included the removal of contaminated, alkaline soil to be filtered and cleaned and later placed back (Best, 2011).
According to Article 2, “Dilution is the Solution!” Applying a bucket of water to the contaminated area apparently does the job.
...at over planting can do to the land, the majority of the United States just moved on and continued to treat the land just as poorly as before. John Pursell views chemical fertilizer as a thing that turns soil into “chemical wasteland” and mentions that today’s soil is often not good enough to resist heavy rainfalls.
Three substances mainly make fertilisers: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Their percentage in the solution will change the effectiveness on a determinate plant; for example is recommended to use high proportion of nitrogen fertilizers during the spring growth of spurts. The fertilisers can be spitted in two categories: organic that contains a low level of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium and aren’t toxic to the environment and synthetic that are made by a high concentration of the three substances and can be corrosive to the environment if are overused.
Bioremediation has basically no effect afterward on the earth material. When the hazardous material is gone, so are the organisms. The microorganisms won’t survive after all the contaminate is broken down, just like a snail in a fish tank without algae. This makes it so there aren't any negative side effects to the treatment. A big plus to bioremediation is the cost. Bioremediation is only $200 - 400 thousand, an easily payable plan when compared to some of the others. Even with these big pros, there is still some negatives to
Understanding the fate and transport of hazardous waste can be helpful for both identifying and managing contaminated sites. For example, a scientist can use principals of fate and transport to determine if waste requires an immediate removal action based on its likelihood to migrate to other parts of the site or off-site. If waste does not require immediate removal, fate and transport can help determine what type of long-term remedial action is required. It is very common for waste to migrate off-site via environmental media including groundw...
Compaction is a densification of the soil which reduces its biological activity, permeability, porosity, and water holding capacity, while at the same time increasing the risk of erosion due to accelerated run-off (13). While some soils are naturally compacted, mechanical pressure (i.e. heavy machinery) can compact soil (13). Erosion is a natural process which is actually essential in the soil formation process, but human activities have accelerated it (7). During erosion soil particles of the fertile topsoil are removed either by wind or water (i.e. runoff), this process is irreversible and can lead to the reduction of soil productivity (7).
To rejuvenate the land, Aboriginal peoples traditionally used this technique. People like Dr Charlie Massy want to use these traditional practices to manage the land and use these natural processes instead of fertilizers and chemicals, which further degrade the land. Alternatively, burning regenerates the soil. Charlie Massy thinks that they should be learning traditional land management techniques. People now want to learn and introduce those techniques.
properly carried out there is possibility of toxic material entering the stream of SOLID WASTE.
Removal/ wasting of activated sludge during this stage if the amount of activated sludge presence in excess.
According to subsection 2a, section 78A of the Environment Act 1995 contaminated land is defined as any land where: “Significant harm is being caused or there is a significant possibility of such harm being caused” All findings collected during site investigation constitute sufficient evidence that the abundant factory site can be designated as contaminated land. The site appears to be in such a condition that there is a high risk of serious harm to be caused as a result of pollution to soils and waters. Immediate remediation procedures are required in order to prevent the spread of pollution to the nearby housing area, which might cause significant harm to its occupants. In order to identify the appropriate person/s who should bear the
Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...
...d trash on the soil in order to keep the soil fresh. My interest would be like find a material to transform those waste or trash as a <>. By that mean, Farmers, instead of buying chemical products to damage the soil, they would use that possibility to keep the soil safe and sound and save money too. Therefore, in order to improve air quality in my community, those disciplines would be highly required. It will also be very good for the safety of the environment.
Soil is the most important non-renewable resource on any farm. Healthy soil is key to a good
Traditional methods for cleaning up contaminated sites such as dig and haul, pump and treat, soil venting, air sparging and others are generally harmful to habitats. Some methods strip the soil of vital nutrients and microorganisms, so nothing can grow on the site, even if it has been decontaminated. Typically these mechanical methods are also very expensive. Most of the remediation technologies that are currently in use are very expensive, relatively inefficient and generate a lot of waste, to be disposed of.
Soil washing is one of the most suitable ex-situ remediation techniques that have been used for the treatment of soils contaminated with heavy metals, hydrocarbons and semi-volatile organic compounds. The hazardous contaminants can be removed from soil by washing the soil with a liquid (often with a chemical additive), scrubbing the soil, and then separating the clean soils from contaminated soil and wash water. The concept of soil washing is based on the theory that contaminants are prone to bind to fine grained soils which in turn are prone to bind to coarse grained soils. Soil properties, contaminant-related parameters and process parameters are the factors that affecting soil washing. The objective of soil washing is to separate these contaminated fines (silts and clays) and wash water from the