Common Sources of Potential Contamination Discovered on a Residential Property

Not many people realize that contamination may be present on a residential property, too. Contamination to a residential property can be resulted from:

• Leaking fuel tanks either above ground (AST) or underground (UST) and their associated supply systems;
• Spills resulted from over pumping of the fuel storage tanks;
• Leaking sewer lines near or across a property;
• Failed onsite septic systems;
• Leaking from traffic on nearby streets, cars on driveways or diesel powered lawnmowers;
• Potential contamination transported from nearby contaminated facilities such as a gas station with leaking USTs, a automobile garage with the surficial spills, a transformer station with a leaking transformer, an old urban landfill without liners, a badly managed waste management facility, a former dry cleaner, an abandoned section of rail tracks, etc.;
• Potential contamination from the former industrial land use of the property such as a former railway station, a place for stockpiling of treated wood, a former machine manufacturing facility, a former dry cleaner, a former clothing manufacturing plant, a former printing facility, an old fuel tank farm, an abandoned retail gas station, a former fire range, a former junkyard, etc.;
• Contaminated backfill brought to the site during house construction or landscaping; and
• More.

According to the radio, petroleum contamination leaked from leaking tanks in the backyard of a house situated by Rideau River several years ago. A lady living in the house was waked up at middle night by horrible noises from the heavy machines operated by an emergency response crew arriving at her premise. She had to leave her home rightway due to the safety concerns. It took months to complete the site remediation. During this period, the owner had to live away from her home.

A Phase I Environmental Assessment is able to identify most of these potential contamination sources as such to reduce the levels of potential environmental liability at a minimum cost for the buyer . It can also help current property owners to assess the potential enivronmental liability before putting their houses on sale. Any unanticipated delay of the sale or devaluation of the property due to the potential contamination of the property could be a major blow for the current owner.

The true environmental conditions can be determined by a Phase II ESA that consists of borehole drilling and soil and groundwater sampling.

Disclamation: The information published in this blog is based on author’s personal knowledge and experience and is provided to readers as references only. The environmental conditions and requirements of regulations could vary from site to site. As such, readers should seek professional advices from a consultant who is familiar with the site conditions when readers address their environmental concerns. The authors of the blogs and GreenRideau Environmental Solutions Inc. are not responsible for any losses or damages resulted from either direct or indirect uses of the information provided in the blogs published on www.greenrideau.com.