Barenco was retained by a development company to undertake remediation of a parcel of land which had previously been used as a leather tannery. In addition, a portion of the property had contained a railway and sidings. A bulk fuel storage depot had existed adjacent to one of the rail sidings.

The eastern portion of the property was to be developed for use as residential condominiums. In this area, there were two main types of soil contaminants. The first was soil impacted with petroleum (TPH) and the second was soil containing boron, EC, SAR and with elevated pH.

Petroleum impacted soil was stockpiled in preparation for construction of biopiles on-site. Approximately 5,000 tonnes of soil was processed using Barenco’s MOE-licensed proprietary bioremediation system. Bioremediation was selected as a preferred method to landfilling due to significant cost saving. Bioremediation took about one year to complete during which time monitoring and sampling of the biopiles took place routinely to verify that the process was achieving the appropriate criteria for TPH. Final sampling confirmed that the appropriate criteria had been met. As the biopiles were being broken apart, inspection was made of the soil to ensure that there were no hot spots which exceeded the criteria. A small quantity of soil that exceeded the criteria was set aside for disposal at a licensed landfill. The rest of the soil was used as backfill on the site.

In areas where bioremediation would not have been effective, the impacted soil was excavated and disposed at a licensed landfill. One area contained mineral oil while another contained bunker oil.

To remediate the soil containing boron, EC, SAR and with elevated pH, track mounted equipment was used to mix the impacted soil with surrounding clean soil to achieve compliance with the criteria. Mixing on-site is an MOE approved method for these specific chemical parameters which are related to plant toxicity and not to human health. During the mixing, sampling was conducted to confirm that the mixed soil was well within the appropriate criteria.

Luxury condominiums were constructed on this lakeside site following completion of Barenco’s work.