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Abandoned gas stations1/5/2024 ![]() This allows the site to be utilized in a rather safe way, but does not deal with the underlying material which may continue contaminating water sources. Some projects working with old gas station sites lay down some sort of cap of clean soil, wood chips or other protective barrier, and then use raised beds on the site to avoid digging into the ground at all. For example, when it comes to PAH’s, the following plants could be helpful: Poplar, Pine, Tall Fescue, Red Fescue, Black Locust, Willow, Sunflower, White Clover, Yellow Sweet Clover, Red Clover, Bermuda grass, Western Wheatgrass, Blue Grama Grass, Buffalograss, Canada Wildrye, Perennial Ryegrass, California White Sage, Switchgrass, Red Mulberry, Alfalfa, Apple, Cat Claw, and Pumpkin. If there is more shallow contamination, there are quite a few plants that have shown promise for remediating some common gas station contaminants. This approach would take time, and success would depend on how deep the contamination or the hydrocarbon plume was and where it was in relation to the site. Following that with more surface soil remediators would also be great, though the main focus would be on working with the trees to access contamination deeper down. Using fast growing trees, such as poplars, willows or black locust, to access deeper contamination with their longer roots would be ideal. When it comes to using PLANTS to phytoremediate toxic sites, plants can clean up the soil only as far as their root systems reach. But if you are able to get permission to do this work, or the company is long gone leaving only their toxic legacy behind, there are a few grassroots bioremediation options you could try. Other conventional clean-up strategies include fencing and sealing up the site or excavating the contaminated soil, trucking it off to a landfill and filling the site with “clean soil.”ĭue to their concern over liabilities, companies that own these sites may not allow you to engage in grassroots bioremediation work there, especially if it involves digging in the soil. ![]() In situations like these, some high-tech conventional technologies try to aerate and encourage bioremediation under these areas, or off-gas the contamination. This makes earth repair challenging because you can’t always get at the contamination, especially if you are in a densely built and populated area where that hydrocarbon plume may have migrated and now extends under the road, houses, other businesses. ![]() Conventional Gas Station Clean-UpĬontamination found at these sites, like the hydrocarbon plumes that contaminate groundwater, drinking water and the soil, can run deep and spread over an area that extends well beyond the border of the site itself. If there is an autoshop too, you may also find: Trichloroethylene (TCE), Perchloroethylene (PCE or PERC), Methylene chloride, Carbon tetrachloride, oils, blended oils and glycol solutions, heavy oil distillates (motor oil, hydraulic fluid), Ethylene glycol, detergents, acid solutions, and more. Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes. ![]() From volatile organic compounds and polyaromatic hydrocarbons to heavy metals, see the list below for some of the many contaminants that you may find lurking in the soil and water on gas station sites.
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