Services
Water & Soil Services offer a wide range of environmental services tailored to your needs. Whether you are a builder, developer, strategic planner, a new home owner or potential purchaser, or even simply curious as to the history or your site, we can provide you with an efficient and competitive service tailored specifically for your needs. A list of some of our capabilities is provided below.
Land Capability Assessments
If you are planning to install a septic system or a domestic wastewater treatment plant at your unsewered property, you may be required by council to undertake a Land Capability Assessment (LCA) prior to planning permit approval. The LCA process will determine your lands suitability to accept and support a wastewater treatment facility, whereby the treated wastewater may be dispersed onto the land.
As part of the LCA assessment, information specific to your site and the surrounding area is gathered, as well as a site visit and potentially some limited soil sampling, which is prepared into a report format suitable to meet the needs of your council.
We will work with your needs in mind, as the positioning of the treatment plant and disposal area in relation to their house / gardens / sheds etc. is very important. Communication with the client, the council and the preferred treatment plant installation contractor will be of the highest importance to get your project underway.
Phase I Environmental Site Assessments
Comprehensive historical site appraisals are a common practice as part of the Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) process. Often councils or the EPA will require a Phase I review of a property prior to development, redevelopment, divestment etc. prior to works commencing. However, the review process can often unearth very interesting information relating to the site's history and is used to determine the type and location of potential sources of contamination at your property.
The Phase I assessment is a relatively hasty process with a comprehensive EPA Environmental Audit standard assessment being completed in approximately 1 week. Brief, more preliminary assessment can be completed in a matter of days and at a highly competitive cost with much of the information being available within hours.
Phase II Environmental Site Assessments
The Phase II process refers to the physical sampling and laboratory assessment of soil and/or groundwater to determine the contamination status of your property. These assessments are commonly undertaken as a council or EPA requirement for new developments. However, if you are curious as to what is present in the soil you are living on, or perhaps you have had a fuel/oil/chemical spill, or you would simply like to complete some Due Diligence sampling of a property you are wishing to purchase, a Phase II assessment may be what you're after.
Following the outcomes of the Phase 1 historical review (if deemed necessary), a customised Phase II investigation can be developed specific to your requirements while achieving the most cost effective result. Depending on your needs or regulatory requirements, the Phase II process can range from preliminary shallow soil investigations to limited groundwater investigations or even a full EPA Environmental Audit standard soil, groundwater and soil vapour assessment.
Soil Remediation
If you have, or suspect that you have contaminated soil present on your site, we can quickly determine its suitability for remediation. We specialise in several different methods of remediation above and beyond simple disposal.
The determining factor for remediation is understandably often financially based. We can offer affordable management options for several types of contamination including petroleum hydrocarbon, leachable heavy metals, pH imbalances and many more that can save you considerable amounts of money at the landfill weighbridge. In many instances, the remediation process can be successful enough to allow the treated material to remain on-site, meaning there are no unwanted disposal costs or the need to import replacement filling material.
Underground Storage Tank Decommissioning
Old or disused Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) are common within commercial and industrial properties. USTs often contain harmful and flammable liquids that can pose a serious danger to site users. They are frequently found in the most unlikely of places, from established residential properties to farmland as well as more obvious places such as motor mechanics and factories. Disused USTs are notorious for leakage and often emit harmful, carcinogenic vapours that tend to pool beneath building slabs and find their way into existing buildings.
If you have, or suspect any disused Underground Petroleum Storage Systems (UPSS or USTs) on your property, we can quickly and accurately determine their location and develop the safest possible solution for the their decommissioning. Usually this would require excavation, validation and destruction, however, this is not always practicable and may require other options such as 'in-situ decommissioning' to avoid cave-in or undermining issues etc.
Soil Classification for Disposal
From minor to major works generating any excess soil for disposal to landfill, we can provide rapid turnaround testing and classification as per Victorian EPA requirements. With a limited analysis to keep costs to a minimum, we provide everything you need to avoid any embarrassing complications at the landfill weighbridge.
Depending on the type and level of contamination (if any), we can also provide site management options to avoid disposal costs incurred from the landfill and keep your soil on site without posing risks to the land owner or users of the land.
Classification of soil does not have to involve excavation and stockpiling of material which can leave inconvenient and often dangerous deep excavations. We are able to provide in-situ testing of soils so you can avoid messy and dangerous disruptions to your property.
Landfill Gas & Soil Vapour Assessments
Disposal of refuse to landfill is the least preferred method of waste disposal, however, this is often an unfortunate necessity. The breakdown of organic and putrescible waste within the landfill cell generates several types of harmful landfill gases such as Carbon Dioxide, Hydrogen Sulphide and Methane. These gases are not of particular issue within newly designed and properly managed landfills, however, if the landfill site is old, these gases can easily migrate to nearby properties and pool beneath building slabs.
If you suspect you are living within the Victorian EPA recommended minimum investigation distance of 500m from a current or former landfill, we can provide an affordable preliminary assessment of any landfill gases present beneath your property. The assessment does not involve the installation of any permanent fixtures and will not affect your favourite piece of lawn or garden.
A brief assessment of your site will determine the need for either a Tier 1 (desktop), or Tier 2 (intrusive) assessment. Often the Tier 2 assessment can be avoided given enough lines of evidence are found during the Tier 1 investigation, saving you money.
