ALGA Land and Groundwater Conference 2021

Written by Greg Beck | Land Contamination Principal | Cato Bolam Consultants

Cato Bolam Land Contamination Principal, Greg Beck, recently attended the virtual 2021 Land and Groundwater Conference presented by the Australasian Land and Groundwater Association (ALGA). The virtual conference was a welcome opportunity to keep abreast of new developments within the contaminated land industry. Of particular interest was the emphasis on new or improved alternative remediation and investigation techniques being employed. Some of these include:

• Surveying the boundaries and depth of waste at legacy landfills using non-invasive electrical resistivity tomography instead of more intrusive methods,
• It may be possible to partially remediate asbestos fibres in waste using a mix of bacteria, fungi and lichens,
• Dioxin, one of the most toxic compounds known, can be remediated using an unlikely combination of fungi and trees,
• International literature, bioavailability studies and computer modelling suggest that concentrations of urban lead up to three times higher than established New Zealand human health standards may be protective of children
• Peat soils contain naturally occurring hydrocarbons that can pose a challenge when cleaning up man-made petroleum contamination in swampy environments

It is widely recognised within the land contamination community that practical alternatives to cleanup by “dig and dump” must be found if we are to make a successful transition into sustainable contamination cleanup. The solution would seem to be a combination of innovative techniques to identify and remediate contamination and refining what concentrations of contaminants actually pose a significant risk to human health and/or the environment.

At Cato Bolam we keep abreast of the latest investigation and remediation techniques in order to continually offer our clients the most cost-effective contamination investigations and clean-ups.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Cato Bolam team if you need information or assistance regarding contaminated land issues with your project.

Cato Bolam’s land contamination specialists provide a wide range of services from initial Risk Assessment (HAIL) to Remediation and Validation for commercial and private clients and we cater for clients both large and small.

We pride ourselves on helping our clients understand the often complex issues relating to Land Contamination and we are proud to share the following feedback.

“I’d also like to thank the soil contamination expert I spoke to (Greg Beck) He was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. I really appreciated the time he took to explain things to me, discuss my concerns and educate me on soil contamination.

I deal with a lot of clients, contractors and businesses in my line of work and the way Cato Bolam responded to my query was above and beyond anything I expected. So thank you once again.”

We welcome you to read more about our Land Contamination services and how we can help.

ALGA’s mission is to promote the protection, restoration and management of land and groundwater for the benefit of human health and the broader environment, you can read more about the Australasian Land and Groundwater Association at their website here, and the 2021 conference here.