Javier Cortón: “When there is danger for people, it stirs your social conscience”.

LITOCLEAN’s Project Manager reviews one of the most complex remediation cases he has faced.

Soil remediation professionals face a wide variety of cases on a daily basis, but those that can endanger people’s health are the most delicate. The reaction capacity to make the right decisions and get going in record time is the key to solving the problem and minimizing the danger. Javier Cortón, LITOCLEAN’s Project Manager at the A Coruña office, has experience in this emergency management and recalls one of the most complex jobs he has faced and how he managed to successfully resolve the case.

– One day they call you and tell you that a contamination has been detected. at a gas station that is affecting the neighbors’ orchards. What’s your first thought?

It is necessary to act immediately, it is an emergency. When there may be a risk to people, it stirs your social conscience even more, so we must act as soon as possible to prevent these people from suffering any harm as a result of this episode.

– How do you get started?

The first thing we do is to create a crisis cabinet and internally assess the capacity we had to provide an immediate response in terms of human and material resources. The solution must take into account, in addition to safeguarding or avoiding negative impacts on the health of the neighbors and minimizing collateral effects on the environment, so the techniques chosen must be sustainable. After this assessment, we assumed the assignment in a matter of hours.

– You respond quickly to the emergency call but, despite the rush, it is important to make the right decisions. How do you manage this?

We divided the case into phases. The first phase was urgent and imminent and consisted of containing the advance of the impact towards the neighbors’ plots in order to control the possible impact and calm the alarm generated. The next phase required more planning, so we focused on the first phase and decided to start with an action that would generate a barrier to the migration of the affection towards neighboring plots, with the installation of a pumping system, creating a hydraulic barrier and pumping wells at the plot boundary. For this purpose, portable equipment was used, such as generators, due to the lack of electricity supply in the work area. In one weekend we managed to mobilize the necessary material and professionals and control the situation.

– Earlier you spoke of social awareness, did you also have to play the role of mediator with the neighbors, in a certain way?

Yes, it was an added extra to the case management itself. They approached you, they asked you… they were worried and you understand that. Normally we don’t have to deal with these situations, but in this case you tried to convey calm, explain to them that we were there to help and that everything was going to be solved. A few days later, the social alarm subsided.

– From there, there was still a lot to do.

Yes, we began with further characterization of the condition within the area of the facilities, to develop and implement the remediation system according to the site. Teams were prepared, increasing efforts to be able to assemble a remediation module according to the type of site as soon as possible. This took into account the large surface area of the service station, the proximity of houses and the area where the module was to be installed. After 24 months of intensive work, an optimal analytical status of the groundwater was achieved, more than meeting the objectives set with the client and the administration.

– Is this the most difficult case you have faced?

In terms of management, yes, because of the urgency, the need to start up in two days a job that in other circumstances would have taken several months, and because of the social and environmental awareness that is activated at maximum power when a situation of potential risk to people arises.

– What are you most satisfied with?

From the reaction of the entire LITOCLEAN team and from having responded to the trust that the client placed in us with that call. We managed to control the incident, first of all, which was the most important thing, and we obtained great results at the end of the whole process, even the environmental department of the public administration in charge of the supervision of the project made several visits using the site as a case of good practice, praising the management carried out. It is something to be proud of.

See the success story.