Contaminated Site Remediation

If a discharge of heating oil or any other hazardous material contaminates the soil to a degree that it exceeds the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Soil Remediation Standards (SRS) the soil must be remediated or "cleaned up" to bring the site back into compliance with the applicable environmental standard.

For example, in some cases where there has been a discharge from an underground storage tank the soil may not be in violation of applicable NJDEP standard and we can just properly document the conditions and request that the NJDEP Case Manager close the case with a No Further Action (NFA) letter.

If not, the typical approach to remediating soil contamination is to remove the contaminated soil from the site and properly dispose of that material. This approach is the most time and cost effective in many cases. Applied Service Corp. has a fleet of excavating equipment and licensed waste-hauling vehicles to effectively perform a full range of projects on a turnkey basis, from the smallest homeowner oil tank leak to large-scale commercial and industrial remediation projects. We are a preferred contractor with many homeowner insurance carriers, insurance adjusters and environmental oversight consultants, especially on complex excavation projects requiring the removal of contaminated soil from beneath house structures. Our licensed Professional Engineering staff can evaluate and design the required structural supporting systems required for removal of impacted soils below load-bearing structures.

When groundwater is found to be contaminated above the applicable NJDEP Groundwater Quality Standards (GWQS), the groundwater must be remediated to bring the subject site back into compliance with those standards.

In cases where there is both soil and groundwater contamination, as in many residential oil tank cases, remediation of both media are usually performed at the same time. In those cases, we dewater the excavation via the use of one of our vacuum trucks, the installation of pumps or with a multi-point dewatering system. When a vacuum truck is utilized the wastewater is transported to a licensed recycling facility for disposal. When utilizing a pumping or dewatering system, the contaminated groundwater is treated on-site and discharged either back to the groundwater elsewhere on the site or to the local storm water drainage system, through an NJDEP-approved NJPDES permit.

In cases where the groundwater is contaminated , but the soil does not have to be remediated, we can remediate the ground water by several methods. In an effort to remediate a small plume of groundwater contamination, depending on the geology, one of the simplest methods is to install a monitoring well in the center of the plume and remove the contaminated groundwater and any floating product via Enhanced Fluid Recovery (EFR). This is performed with one of our vacuum trucks and can be quite effective in many cases. If EFR events do not prove to be effective, the full horizontal and vertical extent of the plume is determined through the installation of permitted ground water monitoring wells. Once the full extent of the ground water plume is determined, Applied Service Corp. will design and build the appropriate ground water treatment system with its staff of licensed Professional Engineers, Professional Geologists and professional trades personnel.

In-Situ remediation methods are commonly referred to as "Bio-Remediation", but bio-remediation is only one type of in-situ method. This common phrase comes from the earliest methods which introduced microbes that consumed certain pollutants. Today's methods are much more advanced and rely on several different means to get the job done.

These approaches vary project to project and are very site specific. The geology and existing environmental conditions play a very important role in determining the best in-situ approach to take. These methods are meant to change the environmental setting to enhance the natural biodegradation of the soil or groundwater or to cause a reaction that actually consumes the contaminant leaving behind harmless by-products. This is accomplished by introducing certain ingredients to the contaminated media, be it soil or groundwater to induce the necessary “reaction.”

In regards to remediating home heating oil, for example, there are means of enhancing the biodegradation potential of the soil or groundwater to help nature degrade the oil or by actually creating a chemical reaction that will consume the petroleum.

This technology is constantly evolving to remediate a greater number of contaminants in greater concentrations in differing environmental and geological settings. We perform and have access to all the latest proven technologies. Our staff of licensed professional engineers, professional geologists and professional trades personnel has the capability to design and build the appropriate in-situ treatment system to accelerate the degradation of contaminants at your site.