In an interview with , the geographer of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, , explained the , and why . Listen to the full audio of the interview here:
According to him, “Bioremediation works with microorganisms that are in the place that are activated to generate a decomposition process of the decontaminants. It is necessary to know which are the species that could do it (phytoremediation) because the contaminated soil is not on the surface where the development of the species takes place but in the subsoil, more than 6 meters deep. The best solution from the point of view of the urban environment of where it is, is to try to work the problem on site, not to move the soils, to work with a silent process, not annoying that are some batteries that activate microorganisms to decompose the last components of contamination that remain in the soil. “This project is a second stage, the first project was carried out between October 2009 and November 2010. (Between October 2009 and November 2010) the heavy, noisy, annoying work was done, where a large part of the focal contaminants were cleaned in a treatment process that consisted of removing 49 thousand tons of contaminated material. (In the Las Salinas site) the last thing that remains is a trace of contaminants that is worked through enhanced bioremediation to try to remove everything and leave clean soil. Technically there are no longer substantive concentrations of contaminating materials as is thought.” “The microorganisms have these hydrocarbons as their food base, so when the fuels disappear, the bacteria also disappear. There is no super bacteria that will generate an imagined condition, that does not happen. The proposed bioremediation takes an average of 3 to 4 years. Phytoremediation is long term, a tree has to grow to be able to sustain itself in these substrates and reach the contaminated soils that technically are below 6 meters, therefore rooting levels are required. (For phytoremediation) we have to look for the species, there are no native species that are capable of assimilating fuel residues. Native species would die when they reach contaminated substrates such as these. There is experience in bioremediation, in Chile what was done in Puerto Montt, in Europe it is recurrent to use enhanced bioremediation to decompose fuel residues. There is not going to be a park here until the soil problem is solved, the soil is not currently suitable for developing a park. Phytoremediation is presented as an innovative technique but there is nothing innovative about it because I don’t know how much research has been done on the species that do the work. In relation to the urban project he indicated that “this project does not generate congestion, on the contrary, this is the project that will enable connectivity with the northern area of the city, by opening new Libertad. The project connects with Santa Inés to be able to give access to the seafront, which is a desire of the community.”
