Environmental Remediation 101

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(Newswire.net — July 22, 2020) — We enjoy getting out in nature, but sometimes, we forget about the environment we experience every day. If you bought your property, you may be aware of groundwater test results, the presence of lead paint or lack thereof, and other environmental factors that affect your health, but then again, you may not. Many environmental contaminants require specialized testing that the average homeowner won’t spring for right away.

Environmental remediation involves removing these harmful contaminants, including radiation, from soil, groundwater, surface water, and so on. It is necessary to clean up hazardous materials, not only to restore the environment, but to ensure the safety of humans and animals alike who depend on it.

Of course, homeowners aren’t the only ones at risk. Some sites that have seen previous radiation poisoning or have served hazardous waste dumps have been redeveloped. Entire communities are at risk. Take, for instance, the Flint Water Crisis. To cut costs, the city of Flint swapped its water supply from the Detroit system to the Flint River, a river that is notoriously polluted and has caught fire twice. Citizens became ill and children were exhibiting four times the threshold of safe blood levels for lead.

Green jobs are fast growing, so it is no surprise that universities are now offering engineering degrees in environmental remediation as the world strives to heal past mistakes. Luckily, you don’t have to have one of these degrees to learn a bit about the four different types of remediation.

Soil

The quickest way to remediate soil is to remove the contaminated soil and replace it with clean dirt. However, there are other ways that soil containing heavy metals or other contaminants can be neutralized, including the use of heat or bacteria.

Groundwater

Water tables underground supply much of our fresh water used for drinking, bathing, and watering crops. We even bottle water straight from underground springs. It is important to remember that even if we can’t see it, this water flows from place to place, carrying any contaminants with it. One method of remediating groundwater is to inject pressurized air into it, causing it to vaporize. The vapor can then be treated and returned. This is called “air stripping”.

Surface Water

Surface water is easier to access than groundwater, since it is, well, on the surface. You’ve most likely seen news reports of oil spill cleanups where crews directly remove contaminants from oceans and rivers. Surface water can also be filtered to remove harmful particles.

Sediment

Sediment collects at the bottom of a body of water. If stagnant, hazardous levels can rise as water evaporates and concentrates. In rivers and other moving bodies of water, sediment may travel thousands of miles from the site of original contamination. Methods for removing contamination from sediment are similar to those for cleaning both water and soil.

It is important to know what is lurking in our water and soil, especially in our highly connected society. A consumer in Maryland eats potatoes grown in Idaho. A family in Texas grills asparagus grown in Mexico. Our food travels a long way. If it is grown in contaminated soil, watered with contaminated water, and sprayed with pesticides before traveling through warehouses and sitting exposed in the produce section, there’s no end to the amount of damage that can be done without our knowledge

Environmental remediation may not sound like a flashy topic, but it is important to every person on our planet. As environmental regulations are rolled back, it is important for us to defend the resources we have. Without intervention, pollution can lurk for decades, even hundreds of years, infecting the food we eat, air we breathe, and water we depend on, growing stronger every day.