Remediation of sites contaminated by oil spills.

Technical-Scientific Dialogue organized by ReLASC. Lima, November 24

The serious environmental damages suffered by the Peruvian Amazon due to oil spills have awakened interest in finding the best technical solutions to remediate these sites. This has motivated the organization of the seminar by ReLASC, which took place in Lima on November 24.

The conference allowed the exchange of experiences on this topic from academic, public and private sectors. Representing Litoclean, Begoña Mundó spoke about bioremediation techniques, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of their use and emphasizing the importance of carrying out laboratory and pilot scale tests prior to their application.

On behalf of the General Directorate of Environmental Quality of MINAM, Vilma Morales, coordinator of the area of risk management, chemical substances and eco-efficiency, spoke.

Francisco García, director (e) of the Evaluation Directorate and Carlos Quiroz, both from the Environmental Evaluation and Oversight Agency – OEFA, explained how OEFA performs the identification of contaminated sites.

On behalf of ARCADIS Latin America, Andre Reboucas, Executive Director, spoke about how Brazil manages contaminated areas. He also presented the case of the remediation of a site impacted by oil in the Brazilian rainforest, highlighting the challenges that arise for projects in areas of difficult access, lack of electricity or lack of telecommunications.

The seminar was closed by Achim Constantin, secretary of ReLASC, who emphasized the importance of evaluating each particular case to be remediated, with the support of new tools and advances in the different techniques to be applied locally and internationally.