Marta González: “At the WaterCongress I have seen the need to show the risks of hydrocarbons”.

LITOCLEAN has participated in the congress on water management held in Santiago de Chile.

One of the objectives of LITOCLEAN is to grow and learn every day in a sector that never stops evolving, so it strives to participate in different events that allow the exchange of knowledge with other actors and other countries. One of the last ones the consultancy has attended is the WaterCongress, a congress held in Santiago de Chile in which professionals from different industries present innovations in water management. This edition was attended by representatives of the mining industry, consultants and water treatment service companies, as well as universities that collaborate in research with mining companies. Among the countries present were Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Spain, Australia and, as a special guest, Switzerland, among others.

Marta González was in charge of representing LITOCLEAN and of making a presentation on Remediation of groundwater contaminated by hydrocarbons. She herself values the experience:

Does Chile have experience in hydrocarbon remediation?

Not too many, the country does not currently have specific legislation for hydrocarbon contaminated soils, so we consider it interesting to show the environmental problems that hydrocarbon contamination can generate, both to people and ecosystems, as well as to highlight the importance of subsoil investigations and analytical control and remediation methods.

And what were the reactions to your presentation?

Although it is not a central issue in their concerns about this lack of regulations, the fact is that their production plants have been handling hydrocarbons for many years and, therefore, are susceptible to contaminate the soil and aquifers. So they were surprised and interested in the type of work we do. There are few companies in the country that carry out this type of research, let alone remediation, and they are dependent on work related to the purchase and sale of land.

Therefore, can we say that it is a market to work in?

I have been able to get an idea of the current needs of mining in relation to the environment and water and I have identified the need for greater awareness of the risks to the health of people and ecosystems that can be generated by hydrocarbons, both from the administrations and from the companies.