Site Contamination - Derby Pride Park - Research Paper Example

?Site Contamination – Derby Pride Park Introduction Before going into the details of proposing a suitable remediation process for the identified pollution problems at Derby Pride Park, let us get a better understanding of what site contamination actually is. Sullivan (2010) asserts, “Contamination is the making of some clean environment impure by contact or mixture with some substance that is impure or unclean”. A site is said to be contaminated if various perilous and dangerous chemical substances like heavy metals and hydrocarbons crop up at concentrations above the background levels. “Soil is a crucial component of rural and urban environments and in both places land management is the key to soil quality” (Statescu & Cotiusca-Zauca, 2006). However, the soil becomes contaminated if it has a higher identified contaminant in concentrations. In the present era, site contamination has become a real issue as it produces various critical impacts regarding environment, water, human health, and economy of any specific country. Issues to Be Discussed In the report, we will first discuss the soil and water contamination problems and some effective ways to overcome those problems. Next, we will study the pollution problems at Derby Pride Park and their impact on the society. We will also determine the contamination types, their levels, and some effective remediation methods to decontaminate the site. After analyzing the remediation methods, the most appropriate remediation method will be suggested for the contamination problem at Derby Pride Park. Then the social, environmental and economic impacts of the proposed remediation method will be discussed. Impact of Pollution on Society Soil pollution is a very critical health related issue (Ma, 1989). Both soil pollution and groundwater pollution adversely affect the health of humans, plants, and marine life. “Soil contamination can also affect those who touch it” (Barton, 2008). If we talk about groundwater pollution, we can say that it is even more dangerous because it directly affects human as well as marine life. Discharged water contains such substances, which are very harmful for the health of human beings. Contaminated water is neither good for health of humans nor for the soil as it contains harmful and detrimental chemicals. Some sources of groundwater contamination include gasoline, water dissolving chemicals, and oil (Bashi-Azghadi, Kerachian, Bazargan-Lari, & Solouki, 2010). Improperly designed septic systems also cause contamination by slowly draining away the human waste underground, which results in leaking bacteria and viruses into the groundwater. These chemicals are very dangerous for the health of the human beings so proper remediation processes should be implemented in order to decontaminate the infected water. Sources of Contamination Before going to propose a site decontamination plan for the Derby Pride Park, let us get a brief overview of sources of contamination and some methods to decontaminate the polluted sites. There are various sources of contamination production. These sources include food, dietary supplements which are very rare, drugs, industrial discharge from chemical industries, pesticides that come from farming areas, and various detergents and fertilizers. “The potable water becomes wastewater after it gets contaminated with natural or synthetic microbiological compounds” (Runion, 2008). Groundwater from the neighboring fields is also a source of contamination. “Groundwater moves slowly and continuously through the open spaces in soil and rock” (Evans, 2008). Another major source of contamination is those chemical processes, which are used to take out the required minerals from rocks because raw material containing the minerals is often stored in impure and contaminated surfaces, which results in contamination of minerals. So it is strictly advised to keep the surfaces clean on which the raw material is to be placed. Remediation Remediation means decontamination of the polluted sites. The process of remediation depends on certain key issues, which include contamination type, extent of contamination, contaminants’ concentration and the exact location of the contaminated site. It is the job of inspection team to search for the degree or extent of contamination after successfully finding a contaminated site. Remediation is a process of investigating the level of contamination and decontaminating a suspected site through applying the most appropriate remediation methods. An important factor of remediation is risk perception, which can result in altering the degree of required site’s cleanup. Risk should be analyzed while implementing any kind of remediation process because health of human beings is always of key importance. Such remediation processes should be proposed which could decontaminate the site by ensuring the safety of human beings. Treatment of Contamination While talking about remediation, let us discuss some remediation processes, which are helpful in decontaminating a site. Treatment of contamination is of extreme importance not only to save the lives of human beings but also for the positive social and economic impacts of site contamination on the people and the country. There are many methods, which are used for the site decontamination. However, before starting any remediation process, the environmental professionals conduct a thorough research regarding the seriousness of identified hazards in order to find out the best suitable remediation strategy to solve the critical situation. For this purpose, they start by developing a flowchart, which demonstrates the actual remediation optimization process. The flowchart includes characterization of the hazardous soil and material, location of the contaminated site, study of various remediation methods, selection of the most appropriate method and the follow through in order to continuously monitor the remediation process. Some of the widely used remediation methods include on-site treatment, Indirect Thermal Desorption contaminant destruction process, and Direct Thermal Desorption. On-Site Treatment Method In the on-site treatment method, risks to the health of human beings and the environment are acceptable in both short term and long-term forms. An important treatment method is engineered remediation method. Engineering method enhances microbial or geochemical breakdown of contaminants and treatment of contaminants or pollutants. Some of the advantages of implementing this method include sound barricading, dust filtering and application of various suppression devices. Another famous method is chemical decontamination that is typically used to remove radioactive particulate, which are entrapped on surfaces. If decontamination of piping systems is required, then chemical decontamination is the best option. Indirect Thermal Desorption method In Indirect Thermal Desorption method, there are three stages. In the first stage, the excavated material is sorted and graded by the professionals. In the second stage, Indirect Thermal Desorption takes place, which involves boiling off the contaminants. After boiling, they are collected for using in the next stage of the process. After second stage, the contaminated soil becomes clear of any contamination and gets ready to be reused on site. In the third stage, known as Base Catalyzed Decolorination, contaminate concentrate produced in the second stage is turned into water, salt, and oil. Direct Thermal method In the Direct Thermal method, the contaminant destruction process is very fast and cheaper as compared to Indirect Thermal Desorption method. Direct Thermal method is not only fast but is also a single staged process. In both methods of contaminant destruction, the equipment safety standards reveal the way by which the safety of environment and the human health are achieved by the environmental professionals. Chemical Treatment Chemical treatment of water is one of the widely used methods of water purification. This treatment kills all bacteria present in the water. Not only bacteria, but also some viruses such as amoeba and giardia are killed due to chemical treatment. Some other purification techniques are used along with chemical treatment depending upon the level of water contamination. Those techniques include addition of chemical to prevent formation of reaction products, use of clarification process to remove the suspended substances, deionization and softening, disinfection, distillation, electro dialysis, and scavenging. This treatment involves use of chlorine and iodine for making the impure water free of bacteria and viruses. The effectiveness of chemical treatment depends on some important factors that include water’s temperature, time of contact, and concentration of the chemical. It is important to keep the concentration level and the temperature level high in order to kill all bacteria present in the water. Along with chlorine and iodine, halazone tablets are also used to purify the water. Pride Park in Derby Derby Pride Park is known as a development site, which lies to the eastern side of Derby city centre. The construction of derby Pride Park actually started in 1994. Pride Park has been surrounded by various contamination problems ever since it was developed. The main reason behind these problems is the previous industrial history of the land of Pride Park, which also included engineering and gas works. Moreover, we know that if a land has an industrial history of almost two centuries, its land can never be said free of contaminations if there are no proper waste material’s drainage mechanisms available. The change initiated in early 1990s when the government of England planned to redevelop the contaminated land by introducing a new idea for the urban development strategy. That new idea was named as City Challenge, which included the plan of designing a park in Derby. The administration of the city challenge scheme went for the bidding process in order to give the contract to such party, which could effectively reduce the contamination problems regarding the land and water of the Pride Park. The winner of the bidding process was Derby City Council, which assured that the problems regarding the Pride Park would be successfully resolved. Problems at Pride Park Following were the problems, which were identified by the Ove Arup & Partners who were given the responsibility to design an environmentally responsible and sustainable solution for the problems of contaminations in the land of Pride Park: 1 The land of the Pride Park consisted of a lot of flat surface area, which caused drainage problems because the industrialists designed no proper drainage system at that time when the land of the Pride Park was being used for industrial purposes. Flat surface area not only caused drainage problems but also gave rise to flooding problems. 2 Another problem was that the land had become extremely contaminated because of improper drainage systems. There was no proper system for disposal of the industrial waste materials and as a result, polluted industrial water went on absorbing into the land of Pride Park causing several contamination problems. 3 Not only industrial water caused contamination, but also the gas and engineering works were the sources of land contamination. One of the biggest problems was to stop the polluted water from entering the neighboring lands in order to protect other lands from being contaminated. Proposed Remediation Works for Derby Pride Park Following are the remediation strategies that can be implemented to decontaminate the polluted site of the derby pride Park if the above-mentioned problems still exist: Engineered Remediation Method Using this method, environmental professionals first measure the degree of soil contamination to start the process of remediation. “Soil enzyme activities are considered to be sensitive to pollution and have been proposed as indicators for measuring the degree of soil degradation” (Trasar-Cepeda, Leiros, Seoane, & Gil-Sotres, 2000). Engineered remediation method will be the most suitable method as it enhances microbial or geochemical breakdown of contaminants and treatment of contaminants. Some of the advantages of implementing this method include sound barricading, dust filtering and application of various suppression devices. Use of microbial parameters can be very beneficial in this regard, as it helps environmental professionals in monitoring soil pollution using heavy metals (Brookes, 1993). Suitable For End Use Strategy An appropriate remediation strategy that can be used in case of Derby Pride Park is suitable for end use strategy in which certain valuable steps are taken by the environmental professionals in order to make the site suitable to be used for any specific purpose. A 3km to 5km long watertight bentonite wall can be erected which makes use of such panels that should be almost 8 meters below the ground level. The purpose of the panels is to prevent the polluted water from entering the neighboring fields by enclosing the most contaminated parts of the land. Waste Repositories Another way to decontaminate a site is by constructing such waste repositories, which could contain all the waste material produced because of engineering works. These repositories should be on site all the time in order to store the contaminated and waste materials. Impacts of Proposed Remediation Works Economic Impact The economic impact of site remediation is of very high significance in a sense that economic development is one of the major responsibilities of any government. When pollution and toxic substances will be removed from the water and soil of the site using engineered remediation method, not only the local public will be benefited from the site but also the chances of foreign investment in the country will get increased when the neighboring countries will see the interest of the government in developing contamination free sites. Local employment during and after the cleanup will also be increased which will generate income for many employees. Some of the local impacts of remediation include income and sales tax revenues plus an increase in the price of the nearby residential property. Social Impact The proposed remediation works will put great social impact on the people living in the surroundings of the Derby Pride Park. The people will not get afraid of existence of any sort of hazardous substance either in the atmosphere or in the water, which will encourage them to come to the Pride Park with their families for enjoyment. Trust of people on the administration will also be increased when the people will see that the government is taking proper measures to provide them with a clean and healthy atmosphere. Although local traffic and playing fields will get affected at the earlier stages of remediation but in the long run, the remediation process will turn out in favor of the local public. Suitable for end use strategy is one of those strategies, which are concerned with the public’s interest. So selecting this strategy will surely bring a positive social impact on the public living around the Derby Pride Park. Environmental Impact The selected remediation works will have direct impact on the environment as pollution and contaminants from water will be removed. Not only water will be purified, but also the atmosphere will get free from the presence of any sort of harmful gases. Sound barriers and dust filtering are the two most significant benefits of the engineered remediation process which make the atmosphere free of dust and pollution. Removal of the toxic substances from the site will bring a very positive impact on the site’s environment. Conclusion Summing it up, a contaminated site is very dangerous for the health of the human beings as it contains various toxic substances whose presence is not in the benefit of the human beings and the environment. There are many effective methods of remediation, which can be used to remove the contaminants from any infected site. The environmental professionals should analyze the seriousness of the contaminated site and the most appropriate remediation method should be implemented in order to decontaminate the infected site in order to make the environment clean and risk free for the health of humans. References Barton, J. (2008). Soil Contamination, How Does it Effect the Inhabitants. Retrieved from http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/soil-contamination-how-does-it-effect-the-inhabitants-440911.html. Bashi-Azghadi, S, Kerachian, R, Bazargan-Lari, M, & Solouki, K. (2010). Characterizing an unknown pollution source in groundwater resources systems using PSVM and PNN. Expert Systems with Applications, 37(10), 7154-7161. Brookes, P. (1993). The use of microbial parameters in monitoring soil pollution by heavy metals. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 19(4), 269-279. Evans, S. (2008). Landfill and Groundwater Contamination. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Landfill-­and-­Groundwater-­Contamination&id=1762785 Ma, W. (1989). Effect of soil pollution with metallic lead pellets on lead bioaccumulation and organ/body weight alterations in small mammals. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 18(4), 617-622. Runion, R. (2008). Wastewater - Contamination Sources. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Wastewater-­-­-­Contamination-­Sources&id=1500619 Statescu F., & Cotiusca-Zauca, D. (2006). HEAVY METAL SOIL CONTAMINATION. Environmental Engineering and Management Journal, 5(5), 1205-1213. Sullivan, C. (2010). What Contamination is and How it Harms Us. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?What-­Contamination-­is-­and-­How-­it-­Harms-­Us&id=4026044 Trasar-Cepeda, C., Leiros, M., Seoane, S., & Gil-Sotres, F. 2000. Limitations of soil enzymes as indicators of soil pollution. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 32(13), 1867-1875. Read More