Tank Leak - Personal Statement Example

Tank Leak Dear Sir, This is to inform you that work at the site for your new building has been interrupted by the discovery of a leaking, underground oil tank of dimensions 3m x 3m x 3m deep and 1m below ground level. Contamination due to the leak has affected an area of approximately 10m x 10m. Please find below my perception of the implications of this leakage along with my recommendations for dealing with the situation.Since the tank is not in current use, the leakage and resultant soil contamination is not so much a functional problem as an environmental and structural one.

The issues of soil contamination will need to be addressed and the abandoned tank removed for reasons of safety and structural stability. The local agency responsible for the environment may have to be consulted to determine the magnitude and extent of risk of environmental contamination the leakage poses. That agency may also require to be consulted before an appropriate remediation programme is adopted and the soil contamination cleaned up. Following are a few remediation techniques published in the Oil Remediation Index that we could choose from: 1.

Dig and dump - As the name suggests this method involves removing all the contaminated soil and disposing it off to the nearest landfill site. While excavation and dumping is becoming increasingly expensive, this is the most effective of the methods for removal of contamination and possibly most appropriate for your site as we are already in the process of excavation. 2. Soil Vapour Extraction - This is an in-situ process that involves inducing an air flow through the soil to remove the volatile components of the contaminant.

Since oil is not as volatile as say petrol, this technique might not be very appropriate here.3. Thermal Treatment - This method involves creating soil temperatures of 200 - 500 oC to extract organic contaminants which are then recovered or burnt.4. Bio-remediation - This method involves using micro-organisms such as fungi, bacteria etc to degrade organic contaminants. While this is mostly an in-situ treatment, the practical problems of achieving ideal soil conditions for an effective bio-remediation as well as the difficulty in establishing complete degradation of contaminants makes this technique comparatively cumbersome.

However, with the focus of soil clean-up criteria having moved towards a more risk-based approach, the situation here is not as alarming as it may have been earlier. The magnitude of risk is dependent on site conditions and the extent of the possibility of the contaminants coming in direct contact with any receptors that are liable to be affected. To quote Dr. Raymond C. Loehr, " In the general risk-assessment paradigm, environmental risk is defined as the likelihood of injury, disease, death, or adverse impact resulting from human or environmental exposure (real or potential) to chemicals under site-specific circumstances.

" With excavation already in progress, much of the contaminated soil will be removed anyway. This as has been mentioned above is the most effective remediation method. Also the risk of any residual soil contaminant adversely affecting human life or the environment will be minimal as it would be isolated beneath the foundations of the new building.Hoping this letter helps you determine your future course of action, I am, Yours sincerely,Works Cited:Loehr, Raymond C. The Environmental Impact Of Soil Contamination: Bioavailability, Risk Assessment, And Policy Implications.

August 1996. The Reason Foundation. 20 January 2009. http://www.reason.org/ps211.html Oil Remediation Index. Belfor. 20 January 2009. http://www.belfor-uk.com/CaseStudies/Case%20study%202%20Oil%20Remediation/Oil%20RemediationIndex.htm