Effective and safe project for people
The Las Salinas remediation project is an effective and safe project, which has been designed to remediate the land while taking care of the environment and its inhabitants, and is constantly monitored with first class technology and professionals.
Monitoring Variables Environmental
Air
The execution of the project involves emissions due to soil movement, machinery, equipment, and stockpile and biopile management. To ensure that people and the environment are not affected, we have taken multiple control measures.
These include constant wetting of the roads to reduce dust generation; the use of modern, efficient machinery; control of the speed of vehicles on the ground; and an air suction system in the biopiles, which uses activated carbon filters to ensure that the air released is clean.
In addition, we have installed an air quality monitoring station that will verify compliance with environmental air quality regulations at all times.
Noise
The use of machinery for site installation, soil movement and stockpile management could generate noise nuisance to our closest neighbors.
Therefore, we install acoustic screens in work areas to reduce sound propagation; we limit simultaneous activities in sensitive areas, such as controlling the number of machines in operation when near condominiums; and we use modern, quiet machinery to reduce the impact of noise.
Landscape
The Las Salinas area and its surroundings are of high landscape and tourist value, so we are working on measures to contribute to respecting our environment, its inhabitants and visitors.
These measures include the installation of a perimeter fence around the entire area to be remediated, control of the height of the stockpiles and biopiles, and the maintenance of a clean and orderly environment.
Transportation
The reclamation project involves the flow of trucks for the arrival and removal of materials.
To minimize the impact of transportation associated with the project on the environment and the community, we implemented several precautionary measures. Trucks and vehicles entering and leaving the work area must travel at controlled speeds, and their loads will be covered to prevent the dispersion of materials. All vehicles and machinery will undergo periodic technical inspections and maintenance to ensure proper operation and minimize emissions.
Odors
Although the presence of odors does not necessarily imply poor air quality or risk of disease, we know how annoying they can be. That is why we have implemented control measures to prevent the emission of unpleasant odors, such as excavations in limited sections, humidification and sprinklers at work fronts, in addition to covering and monitoring the biopiles.As a preventive measure and complementary to the guidelines indicated above, we have implemented a complete and robust odor detection system that, although it is not a requirement of the RCA, will help provide greater peace of mind to the community, which consists of two fundamental pillars:
- Field odor monitoring, which constitutes a baseline with a team of people in the field selected and calibrated according to Chilean standard 3190:2010, to monitor sectors surrounding the field, with the objective of measuring the frequency and characteristics of the odor according to Chilean standard 3533:2017.
- On-line monitoring, with physical sensors installed at the perimeter of the site, which measure parts per million of volatile organic compounds in real time.
How are we doing this follow-up for people?
Las Salinas has an air quality monitoring station installed on the site and operated by an Environmental Technical Control Entity (ETFA) certified by the Ministry of the Environment. This station permanently provides us with crucial data to safeguard air quality in Las Salinas and the surrounding area, protecting people’s health.
Air quality monitoring stations serve to measure air quality accurately and up to date in a given geographical area.
The Las Salinas monitoring station is operated by an Environmental Technical Control Entity (ETFA), which directly provides information to the environmental authority.
The data generated are used to evaluate compliance with environmental standards and regulations and to take corrective actions, if necessary.
Environmental variables
for monitoring
The air quality monitoring station is operated by an Environmental Technical Control Entity (ETFA), certified by the Ministry of the Environment, and provides us with crucial data that allows us to safeguard air quality in Las Salinas and the surrounding area.
The data presented are collected directly from the installed devices and are automatically processed on a daily basis. Due to this, and considering the characteristics of the devices and the conditions of the environment, these data will be verified in case of possible failures or incidents.
Select the variable you want to check:
Maximum air quality emission standard
Moving Annual Average Las Salinas Monitoring Station
Download
monitoring reports2024
To keep our community informed, we publish the results of air quality monitoring conducted at our station directly in this section. The data are available within the first 10 working days of the month following receipt of the corresponding report.
Latest in Bioremediation
Check out the most recent activities we have carried out as part of our sanitation work in Viña del Mar.
5 Frequently Asked Questions about Bioremediation
Why should it be remediated only in the deeper layers?
A: The oil companies that had stopped operating in Las Salinas submitted a first EIA called “Recuperación Terreno Las Salinas” on December 20, 2002, which obtained an Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) that was favorably qualified by the Regional Environmental Commission (COREMA) of Valparaíso (or regional CONAMA), through Exempt Resolution No. 203 of October 7, 2004.
The first stage of remediation of the Las Salinas site was carried out between 2009 and 2013, during which time 47 thousand tons of contaminated soil were removed and the surface and subsoil facilities of the fuel distribution companies that operated until 2000 were dismantled. This explains why the first meter of soil on the site has been completely remediated.
After the first phase of remediation, studies established that the major contamination of the soil is associated with hydrocarbon compounds, which are located between 5 and 8 meters deep.
Is it dangerous for bacteria to be so close to populations?
A: Bacteria are everywhere on a massive scale, in gardens, in parks, in our refrigerator, etc. So far, after more than 70 years of a naturally activated process, there is no record of them being a threat to populations, because they are bacteria adapted to surplus and remaining hydrocarbons, and not to human pathologies.
How do bacteria travel and can they reach our homes?
A: It is impossible for bacteria to travel to the surrounding dwellings or beyond, let alone in a non-homogeneous environment.
The movement of bacteria is on a microscopic scale, imperceptible to human measurement standards; their world (cosmos) is reduced to a dimension not perceptible to man. Moreover, bacteria cannot fly.
Why is phytoremediation not applied at the site?
A: Because there is no pre-existence in the place that we can take as a reference, the ruderal (colonizing species in uninhabited or abandoned sites) present do not do phytoextraction, fundamentally because the contaminants are below 6 to 7 meters in the subsoil, even if we bring them to the surface to force phytoremediation the species to be incorporated will change the matrix of the contaminants, that is to say, the contaminants are extracted by the plants that later would have to be eliminated in another way. In addition, there is no possibility of tree species for coastal soils where the substrate is mineral (sands), with brackish soils. Clearly a technique that does not apply to this type of site and soil type.
Why do they install the monitoring stations inside the field and not in the surroundings where people live?
A: Because the source of contamination to be monitored is the site itself, it is the closest location to a potential exposure and, therefore, where measurements will be highest. Monitoring within the contaminated site and not in the surrounding area helps to differentiate the contaminants coming from the site in question and not from other sources, such as local industry or traffic, and allows to evaluate the effectiveness of corrective measures in real time.
