The Biggest Myth of All

A few years ago, I was visiting an environmental consultant’s office. The person across the desk from me (who shall remain nameless) was “in charge” of environmental site assessment and remediation projects for that particular office. At one point in the conversation, they said: “In-situ remediation doesn’t work.” Excuse me?!

At this point I’m tempted to go off on a rant, but I can hear Bruce’s voice in my head saying, “be nice, Kevin”, not wanting to burn any bridges. Bruce also knows full well that IMO some bridges deserve to be burned; others deserve to be nuked! Be that as it may, let’s not attack the individual, but rather the issue.

I’ve heard this before and, unfortunately, since. It’s usually uttered with an air of finality, as if one bad experience 15 or 20 years ago sealed the fate of an entire field of science and technology. The irony of this is that the same individuals who cling to this outdated perspective have witnessed rapid, transformative changes in countless industries that affect their everyday life but refuse to acknowledge that environmental remediation has also evolved.

Let’s set the record straight.

Back when in-situ remediation was first becoming a viable option, there were plenty of unknowns. The techniques were nascent, the chemistry wasn’t fully understood, and yes, early projects sometimes fell short of expectations. But let’s remember that remediation professionals were exploring uncharted territory.

Today, we have decades of learning, advanced amendments, cutting-edge injection tools, sophisticated site assessment methods, and an army of skilled practitioners behind us.

So, when someone dismisses in-situ remediation based on “it didn’t work once,” they’re missing the entire story of progress and success.

These opinions are based on outdated experiences, not recognising that the field has learned from past mistakes. We’re not just talking about adding a pinch of this or a drop of that to soil or groundwater anymore. Granted, there were some “snake oil salesmen” and their “pixy dust” who damaged the industry’s reputation back in the day. These were what I call the “spray and pray” or “shoot and scoot” contractors. Pump something in the ground and hope for the best!

However, in-situ remediation is now a science, grounded in rigorous site characterization, tailored amendments, and precision application techniques. Now it’s more of a “map and tap” approach. Many of today’s remedial amendments are designed with a deep understanding of subsurface geochemistry and phenomena like “back diffusion”. They’ve been tested, analyzed, and continuously refined.

Perhaps the main reason some early projects floundered: the underlying remedial design was ill conceived and doomed to fail from the start.

For in-situ remediation to succeed you need get three things right: 1) amendment, 2) dose, and 3) contact. The selected remedial amendment has to be able to treat the contaminant of concern. It has to be applied in a sufficient quantity for the reaction chemistry to proceed to completion. And the amendment has to be applied in the subsurface such that it fully contacts the extent of contamination and stays there for long enough to provide treatment.

But let’s be honest – if someone did it themselves or used a contractor who didn’t really know what they were doing, or didn’t have the right tools, that’s not a failure of the science. That’s a failure of execution. Today’s contractors, assuming they are properly educated, trained and experienced, know how to effectively design and implement complex injection plans tailored to the site’s specific geology and contaminant profile.

Here’s the catch: you should work with a qualified in-situ environmental remediation contractor and follow best practices to see positive results.

For those out there still unsure or in doubt, all you need to do is engage with the current science and technology. Go to an environmental conference. Talk to the engineers and scientists behind these projects. Look at the data, read some case studies. Better yet, get out in the field and see it in action.

In-situ remediation works because it’s built on years of refining techniques, learning from setbacks, and adapting to real-world conditions.

VEI Contracting Inc. started out as Vertex Environmental Inc. way back in 2003 and was around for those nascent days when in-situ remediation still carried significant unknowns and uncertainties. I’ve been with VEI since 2012 and the advances in remediation technology since that time is incredible! Tangible proof that in-situ remediation works is the fact that VEI has been a successful practitioner in the field for over 20 years. If it didn’t work, we wouldn’t still be in business.

The world doesn’t stand still, and neither does our field. In-situ remediation works – and it’s time to let go of this outdated myth!