GeoEnvironmental was asked to provide a Phase I Environmental Assessment of a 1600m2 site in Lockerbie. The site had a small grocery shop and the site owner required a Phase 1 assessment for a planning application to change the site to residential use. The site reconnaissance visit identified that there had been an above ground fuel storage tank onsite and there was some residual staining on the ground around the structure. In addition, the neighbouring property had a breather pipe close to the boundary which indicated that there may also have been an underground petroleum storage tank. It was clear that a phase 2 investigation was required to ensure that there was no contamination linkage on our clients site. We recommended that five trial pits were dug: the trial pits excavated close to the boundary had no visual signs of hydrocarbon contamination from the underground tanks and this was confirmed by the chemical data. Trial pits close to the on-site above ground storage tank were visually impacted with hydrocarbons and samples showed that concentrations of both aliphatic and aromatic petroleum hydrocarbons exceeded screening values. The area of impacted soils was less than 1m3 and we agreed with Environmental Health and the client that the most cost effective solution was to excavate and remove the visually impacted soil to a soil treatment centre or landfill.
