President Obama’s stimulus plan has trickled upriver to West Sacramento and made a huge splash in favor of green technology.
The “recipe” designed to clean up the site in West Sacramento includes hydrogen peroxide, water and a proprietary catalyst mixture to stimulate a chemical reaction, destroying contaminants and encouraging bio-degradation. Photo by Jah Mackey
By Jah Mackey
Published: January, 2011
President Obama’s stimulus plan has trickled upriver to West Sacramento and made a huge splash in favor of green technology. We often hear about billions of dollars allocated by the federal government and spent on projects we never see or jobs that never come our way, but this time the Delta got a chance to sample both.
The City of West Sacramento has received $154,066 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money for chemical injection remediation to clean up petroleum hydrocarbons from an underground storage tank located onsite at a former industrial site that was abandoned by the previous owner. So far, the City has been awarded over $236,814 in ARRA grants for this type of cleanup.
The ARRA funding and oversight for this project and others throughout Yolo County is provided the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State Water Resources Control Board and the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.
“Thanks to the funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the EPA has been able to provide millions of dollars in grants to California for the cleanup of contaminated lands throughout the state, which is the first step in bringing these properties back to productive economic use,” said the EPA’s Bob Pallarino. “Using cleanup methods that reduce waste generation and transport to landfills is another step forward in making green remediation the standard for addressing contamination of our land and water.”
While other remediation practices have been in place for years and not considered environmentally friendly, as they cause significant amounts of waste material and release of toxic air pollutants, chemical injection remediation is a relatively new “green” process that treats contamination in place.
“In-situ” (Latin for “in-place”) chemical treatment remediation technology has been increasingly applied for the cleanup of groundwater contamination sites in California. In-situ chemical treatment includes injection of selected chemicals or the mixing of several chemicals to the contamination plume through the delegated delivery points.
The purposes of the in-situ chemical injection methods are usually twofold: to stimulate chemical reaction (e.g., oxidation) to destroy contaminants, and to generate oxygen (O2) to encourage or enhance bio-degradation. The in-situ cleanup method has been used in the following cleanup situations: 1) to remediate contaminants plumes, 2) to address localized “hot-spot” high concentrations, 3) to limit groundwater contaminant plumes from migrating off site, and 4) to proceed final polishing after other remediation technologies.
“This is exactly the kind of forward-looking project ARRA stimulus money is designed to assist. This Brownfield cleanup is part of the City’s redevelopment efforts that will help bring new economic vitality, jobs and prosperity to the City. The fact that it is part of an overall green effort and design fits well with California’s vision for greener communities,” said State Water Board Deputy Director Esteban Almanza.
Bureau Veritas, a global leader in the quality assurance, health, safety & environmental sectors, designed the “recipe,” which includes hydrogen peroxide, water and a proprietary catalyst mixture used to clean up the site in West Sacramento. WDC Exploration and Wells, the largest privately owned drilling company in the United States and based in Sacramento was hired by the City to implement the In-situ process designed by Bureau Veritas.
