Land and Urban Areas / Industrial
The immediate physical effect of the oil spill in soil is to reduce the absorption of water by the soil. This causes a real malnutrition of flora that is unable to perform its basic vital functions. Then we must add the chemical effect of the substance spilled that affects primarily on wildlife.
The priority is to reduce quickly and prevent oil leakage into groundwater. In this way it reduces the impact area and the local ecosystem consequences that could hit productive activities (livestock, crops, aqueducts, factories, etc.) poisoning the human food chain.
Traditional and bioremediation techniques can be considered depending on the type of intervention.
Coastal Areas
These are beaches (sandy and pebble), wetlands and marshes, cliffs, ports and marinas, lakes, rivers and streams.
Beaches (sandy or pebbly)
These areas are normally used for tourist activities , but sometimes we have protected areas for the presence of protected animals (turtles, birds, etc.) or specific natural conformations. Oil penetration could be devastating and remediation techniques could provide for the handling of high volumes of materials or replacement of the same.
Wetlands or swamp
Usually found along the seashore, river banks or lakeshore and appear as swamps, bogs, marshes. They are a very delicate and precarious balance ecosystem. It is an environment through which flow out the nutrients from the surrounding areas. They are characterized by high biodiversity specificity with the presence of a number of important species, commercially and ecologically. The work must be performed in a non-invasive way, “tailor made”, with specific knowledge of the critical issues.
Cliffs
Are areas where the absorption of the oils is not deep, but you have to be conscious of specific situations with the presence of protected flora or fauna (mammals, birds, etc.) or tourist areas. Interventions even if targeted are in almost all cases “labor intensive” and it is necessary to exclude many techniques.
Coastal waters , harbors and Marina
Coastal waters are those up to 10 m (30 ft) from the shoreline that are not in contact with the natural coastline where the presence of particular habitats (seagrass, corals, wrecks, etc.) can define different procedures than the traditional ones. Where there are ports or marine, pollution can block navigation activities for security reasons, and this affects the industrial and recreational activities with serious damage to the economy. Knowledge of sites, of meteorology, of currents and rapid action can often cancel out the consequences of a spill, bringing back the water for recreational or productive use.
Lakes , Rivers and Water Courses
Pollution in these areas can have very important effects on the ecosystem and human health. Specific locations such as lakes are often used for aqueducts or breeding fish and the rivers connected to them can boost the expansion of pollution. The oil expansion along rivers seriously impacts both the flora and fauna as well as making the water unusable for human consumption or irrigation. Interventions must be quick with a stable organization highly coordinated and knowledgeable of sites and techniques as well as with established procedures.
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