Why are there so many different types of environmental remediation?
According to Connect2Local.com:
“Environmental remediation is the process of removing contaminants and pollution from the environment, such as an oil spill, chemical runoff, or VOC contamination. There are four main types of remediation: soil, groundwater, sediment, and surface water. Pacific Commercial Services—an industrial cleaning company in Hawaii—explains how each area is addressed after a chemical spill.
“4 Types of Environmental Remediation & Their Importance
Soil
“Some of the most common contaminants found in soil include hydrocarbons, creosote, and heavy metals. This contamination is typically caused by industrial activity, improper waste disposal, or agricultural chemicals. Some common types of remediation include removing and replacing the contaminated soil, thermal remediation, encapsulation, and air sparging. Removing these contaminants is vital, as animals will absorb that contamination. It can bring harm to the local ecosystem and to people that are exposed.
Groundwater
“Contaminated groundwater is often a result of agricultural and urban runoff, leaking landfills, or industrial spills. The pollution can either be removed or converted into a harmless product. There are many treatment methods that can be used, either biological, chemical, or physical in nature. This is extremely important because water flows and its contaminants can pollute drinking wells or agricultural irrigation, which will spread disease to the people who come into contact with it.
Surface Water
“Surface water contamination is a similar issue to groundwater contamination. However, since it is at the surface, it’s much easier to treat. It is also arguably more important since people encounter surface water more often than they do groundwater.
Sediment
“Sediment is the organic matter at the bottom of a body of water, which makes it a combination of soil and water remediation. It affects both and can be contaminated by both. The common methods used include in-situ capping, dredging, excavation, or monitored natural recovery.”