Environmental Remediation

WES built its reputation in site remediation, taking our clients through to restoration and revegetation. We provide cost-effective solutions across Vancouver Island.

Contaminated site remediation is usually brought into play when one is selling, refinancing, or developing their property. It can also be brought on suddenly in the case of spills. These actions will trigger individuals or organizations (including the province of BC) to require an independent remediation. Common contamination in BC includes heavy metals, hydrocarbons, chlorophenols, and chlorocarbons. These generally come from commercial or industrial activity.

When starting the remediation process, there are two sets of standards accepted by the BC Contaminated Sites Regulation: numerical and risk-based. These standards are used as the “goal” we aim for when remediating a site to what the BC government deems acceptable.

• Numerical standards are a set level of concentrations for known contaminants. Meaning that when numerical standards are chosen, the concentration of contamination on site must fall below these standards or the site is not considered to be remediated.
• Risk-based standards require a risk assessment in order to determine if the contamination on site will pose an unacceptable risk to humans or the environment coming in contact with the site. The risk assessment may discover that the contamination on site will not pose any risk to humans or the environment using the site and, therefore, the contamination on site can remain in place.

Both of these forms of environmental remediation can be used on their own or together. The approach taken can be really specific to the site, taking into consideration what type of contamination there is and how to get access to it. In one its simplest forms, contaminated site remediation can involve digging up the contaminated soil, hauling it off site, and backfilling with clean soil. This would allow for relatively quick restoration services and would be a good candidate for using numerical standards.

However, contamination can be very deep and if the site doesn’t allow access the specific depth, then the best course of action might be to leave the contamination in the ground and perform a risk assessment. At the end of the risk assessment, the site may be deemed acceptable as is; in which case continued monitoring of the site would be required to confirm that it remains acceptable. On the other hand, if the risk assessment deems the risk unacceptable, a solution might be to treat the contamination in the ground. This could involve injecting chemicals or bacteria cultures that will break down a specific contamination.

Examples of remediation include:

• Excavation and removal
• Contained land farming
• Heat treatment
• Chemical treatment
• Bioremediation

When confirming remediation services are complete, WES will collect soil, water, and vapour samples to examine contamination levels are below numerical or risk-based standards.

WES works with our clients, putting their needs first and choosing solutions that deliver results. We understand that no site is the same. Our team of professionals will design a solution specific to your trust.