Blog & Recent Projects

     COLUMBIA Technologies is currently supporting our first high-resolution direct sensing project in Mexico City.  COLUMBIA’s direct sensing team landed in Mexico City in August to make a difference in the environmental industry on a global level and prove that real-time information can drive a project to satisfy regulatory requirements for investigation of contaminated sites.

Following the proven concept of stakeholder and regulatory involvement, systematic work planning, and dynamic work execution, these site investigations focused on providing a better understanding of how the results would impact the overall remediation scope and property disposition.

 Would a comprehensive site assessment and better data with multiple technology integration make a difference in your overall scope? Before you answer that question, think about whether or not having better, more accurate, and real-time information would motivate you to change your investigation technique on your next project. Are you actually interested in having data that accurately depicts the plume, delineates your source area, and multiple lines of evidence on your subsurface contamination? Or, would you rather “drill blind” and continue to sample areas where you think there may be contamination and install monitoring wells at the wrong depth and location incurring additional costs and time?

If having better data would actually change the way you would execute your project, design a remediation plan, or install monitoring wells, please read on. If you disagree, you may also continue to read, but the thoughts below may conflict with your perspective. Just saying, we warned you.

Data which is collected with advanced direct sensing tools (such as the Membrane Interface Probe (MIP), Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF), or Hydraulic Profiling Tool (HPT)) provide a greater level of detail for characterizing the local site geology, a more in depth understanding of the hydrology, and deeper insight into the contaminant chemistry of your site. Wouldn’t all of this allow you to make more informed decisions?

 Article originally featured in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) CLU-IN Technology News and Trends March 2011 Issue

Most recently, the March 2011 issue of Technology and Trends highlighted a project where COLUMBIA Technologies worked closely with the property owner, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ), and the City to address the site's environmental and economic issues.

Efforts to better delineate contamination and accelerate remediation of the former Fannon Petroleum Services site in Alexandria, VA, were initiated in the early 2000s as part of a plan to redevelop the site for residential use.

For this project, the VA DEQ initiated the Triad approach including the development of a conceptual site model and consensus on specific investigative methods and tools, with a focus on using:

1. Membrane Interface Probe (MIP) to characterize distribution of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in discrete hydrologic units and soil stratigraphy at offsite locations;
2. Direct-sensing geophysical tools rather than groundwater and soil sampling for initial screening; and
3. A dynamic work strategy to allow real-time decision making that could identify specific locations for direct-sensing locations as work proceeded.

Click the following link to read the full article, Revised Characterization Plan Accelerates Petroleum Brownfield Cleanup and Redevelopment.

COLUMBIA Technologies’ state-of-the-art equipment and rapid 3D visualizations combined with historical data completed a site assessment so efficiently that the original project work scope was reduced by 50%.

On this recently completed project, a major energy company required state clearance from regulators prior to advancing their expansion plans at an active petroleum refinery facility in western North Dakota.

Historical data indicated potential contamination in the expansion area requesting for rapid resolution to address regulatory concerns. The client engaged in a site assessment with COLUMBIA to map the area of concern and compare this with the historical data using COLUMBIA’s award winning SmartData Solutions®. With a dynamic work scope and real-time data measurement the team bound the area of concern and closed data gaps to reduce the problem at hand for the client as well as the regulatory agencies.

 During a recent site characterization in Hawaii using LIF/UVOST^® technology COLUMBIA Technologies encountered relatively low levels of petroleum contamination hidden in an usually high background response. This resulted due to the presence of naturally occurring fluorescence materials (likely calcareous sands) in the subsurface at the site. This elevated background fluctuated in response intensity from log to log and often within a single log, making it more difficult to accurately identify residual petroleum contamination responses in the subsurface.

Dakota Technologies, the inventor and manufacturer of UVOST^® instrumentation, was able to mathematically separate five different petroleum compound signatures from the background interference. This extended data processing enabled COLUMBIA to more accurately map the residual petroleum concentration in 3D. The subsequent data set correlated well to soil samples selected by the client providing multiple lines of evidence of the extent of the historical petroleum spill.

Article originally featured in the Probing Times, the official newsletter of Geoprobe Systems^® Fall 2009 Issue

Long before the fieldwork began, Columbia Technologies, based in Baltimore, MD, worked closely with GeoTrans in Irvine, CA, the site consultant, to develop a scope of work that would allow Columbia Technologies to characterize the vertical distribution of TCE across the site in just a few days of fieldwork using the Membrane Interface Probe (MIP).

"Of critical importance," according to Lauren Steely, Columbia's West Coast Operations Manager, "was our ability to push the MIP system to a 70-ft. depth at one location while avoiding cross-contamination of a deep sand unit."

Lauren enlisted the assistance of Millennium Environmental in Anaheim, one of Columbia's southern California service partners, to provide a Geoprobe^® 6600/PC111 and field team for the project. The Millennium team pushed the MIP logging system through a conductor casing to prevent shallow contaminated groundwater from impacting the deeper aquifer.