Blog & Recent Projects

Article originally featured in the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) LUSTLine, Bulletin 68, June 2011

 Most recently, the June 2011 issue of LUSTLine featured an article, "Where's the LNAPL? How about Using LIF to Find It?" written by Paul Stock of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Petroleum Remediation Program (PRP).

Paul's article provides an educational read on the ins and outs of LIF, the effectiveness of this LNAPL mapping tool, and Minnesota's experience in managing LNAPL risks.

Some key highlights include:

• How Minnesota's PRP routinely uses data from LIF probes to target petroleum LNAPL when remediation is necessary
• ITRC's LNAPL Team which has developed a set of excellent classroom training modules that lay out the latest understanding of LNAPL behavior using a multiple lines of evidence approach
• The importance that LNAPL data must be integrated with all available standard site data, including site history, present land use, geology, and soil and groundwater contamination to develop an LNAPL science-based site conceptual model (SCM)

Click the following link to read the full article, Where's the LNAPL? How about Using LIF to Find It?.

To discuss how LIF technology can be applied at your LNAPL site, please contact Brian McCann at +1-(888) 344-2704 ext. 233.

 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.

 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.