Investigations of Site-Contaminations in China: Initial Site-Contamination-Investigation and -Remediation in China

Currently in China there is proceeding a serious intensification of the environmental law relating to future critical limit values and the obligation of accompanying measures. Also in China the assessment of possible financial relevant features of sites like hazardous waste contaminations and groundwater pollution is becoming more important. Nowerdays, the investigation concerning contaminations of sites in China is becoming necessary and interesting for German investors. Meanwhile, in the course of all-embracing Due-Diligence-examinations for site assessments in China for a German investor the R&H Umwelt GmbH from Nuremberg/Germany (R&H) already has performed several initial site-contamination-investigations including the initial investigation of the building-substance on industrial sites.

(01.06.2010) China has recognised the exigent domestic environmental problems and the resulting economic financial loss. The governmental State Environmental Protection Bureau has received ministerial status, in the year 2008 the creating of an environmental law was set as a target of the five-year-plan for the first time. Presently the existing environmental law is revised and overhauled intensively; soon the irresponsible handling of pollutants and harmful substances in water and environment shall not be tolerated any more. It is to be assumed that within a short period of time a comprehensive corpus of legislation will be installed with standing orders concerning obligatory critical limit values and the obligation of accompanying remediation measures when indicated.

In the course of several all-embracing Due-Diligence-examinations for site assessments for a German investor the R&H Umwelt GmbH from Nuremberg/Germany (R&H) performed the environmental assessments concerning industrial sites in China. During the investigations concerning pollutants and harmful substances in buildings, soil and groundwater on the factories premises possible financial relevant features of the sites have been pointed out. Hereby, typical areas of suspicion concerning pollutants and harmful substances in soil and groundwater have been investigated by core-drillings. The saturated zone was investigated by the building of groundwater-wells. Moreover, significant environmentally harmful operational practices in the handling of critical process-media or constructional insufficient circumstances in the handling of environmentally harmful substances could be shown.

Planning and conception have been provided in the forefront of the projects by the R&H Umwelt GmbH in Nuremberg/Germany. In each case state-run Chinese drilling companies have been chartered to perform the core-drillings for the investigation concerning harmful pollutions of the soil and/or the groundwater. The supervision of the field-work as well as the sampling on-site has been carried out by the German project management. The chemical analytics have been executed in accredited and certified laboratories, soil and groundwater samplings were analysed in China, the analysis of soil-air was executed by the AIR GmbH Laboratory in Nuremberg, Germany.

In the course of the takeover of a dissolvent-using industrial plant in the Jiangsu-province an initial site-contamination-investigation was conducted. By 27 core-drillings up to 5 - 12 meter b.g. (below ground) massive pollutions of a groundwater-horizon lying very near to the surface have been proved. The source of the Toluene as the main-contaminant has been the production processes. As a result of the invewstigation, the causes for the Toluene-disposals have been eliminated by improved constructional measures and the changing of insufficient operational practice, remediation measures have been started.

At present, on the polluted area a groundwater-remediation-system is running. The device is created and designed by R&H in Nuremberg and was realized and installed in China. Some special parts have been imported from Germany, though most of the required parts have been made custom-made in China. By this, a customized remediation-measure could be chosen and constructed. As a result of the investigation the German investor was enabled to make contractually concerted demands towards the vendor.

In the course of a Due-Diligence in the Zhejiang-province 50 core-drillings up to max. 8 meter b.g. (below ground) have been executed, partly three drilling-teams have been active at a time. On the factory premises of the metal-working and metal-processing plant massive pollutions of the soil by kerosene have been shown, pollutions up to 180 gram kerosene per kilogram soil have been proved. Moreover, it has been shown that significant constructional inadequatenesses especially concerning the handling of the Kerosene were existent. It had to be assumed that the production at the factory premises under the recent circumstances could not be continued under a German management. The site was not taken over by the German investor.

The investigations by R&H in China partly had pioneer-character. R&H was successful to perform profound initial site-contamination-investigations on-site according to German environmental standards with means recently available in China. With regard to the recently revised and probably soon strictly changing Chinese environmental law it was possible to gain useful and valuable consolidated findings for the assessments of the investigated sites.

Author: Dipl.-Geologist Boris Jacoby, R&H Umwelt GmbH (Nuremberg, Germany)

www.rh-umwelt.de
Foto: B. Jacoby / R&H Umwelt

Copyright:	© Deutscher Fachverlag (DFV)
Quelle:	Entsorga China 01_2010 (Juni 2010)
Seiten:	2
Preis inkl. MwSt.:	€ 0,00
Autor:	Boris Jacoby

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