Environmental remediation
Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be required by regulations before development of land revitalization projects. Developers who agree to voluntary cleanup may be offered incentives under state or municipal programs like New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Program. If remediation is done by removal the waste materials are simply transported off-site for disposal at another location. The waste material can also be contained by physical barriers like slurry walls. The use of slurry walls is well-established in the construction industry. The application of (low) pressure grouting, used to mitigate soil liquefaction risks in San Francisco and other earthquake zones, has achieved mixed results in field tests to create barriers, and site-specific results depend upon many variable conditions that can greatly impact outcomes.
Dredging contaminated sediment in New Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts. The harbor is contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Excavation of soil contaminated with dioxins at Da Nang International Airport in Vietnam
Remediation of pesticide plant on Homebush Bay
Phase I environmental site assessment
In the United States, an environmental site assessment is a report prepared for a real estate holding that identifies potential or existing environmental contamination liabilities. The analysis, often called an ESA, typically addresses both the underlying land as well as physical improvements to the property. A proportion of contaminated sites are "brownfield sites." In severe cases, brownfield sites may be added to the National Priorities List where they will be subject to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program.
Any piece of real estate can be the subject of a Phase I ESA.
Asbestos-containing materials are not typically surveyed during a Phase I site inspection, but suspect building materials may be noted
Storage and handling of toxics is assessed for each site within a Phase I study.