Farm Waste Dump & Sheep Dip Remediation

Overview

Beveridge Williams’ environmental division was engaged to complete a Soil Contamination and Hydrogeological Assessment for a farm site in Clyde North that was earmarked for residential development. The assessments were permit conditions on a planning permit.

Work Undertaken

The Soil Contamination and Hydrogeological Assessment included:

• A thorough site walkover to identify potential contamination sources
• Broad-area grid soil sampling and sampling in specific locations to identify any soil contamination issues
• Installation, sampling and testing of a total of 9 groundwater monitoring wells across the site.

Our assessment identified contamination from a former sheep dip (arsenic and pesticides), an underground fuel storage tank, and a large farm waste dump containing concrete, rubber tyres, wood, and asbestos debris.

Soil remediation was required for the protection of human health and the environment. Beveridge Williams planned and supervised the remediation program to make the site safe, including:

• Excavation and stabilization of the sheep dip using RemBind®
• Excavation of the farm waste dump (6.5 m depth) and removal of 205 m³ of solid waste and 1,000 tonnes of reusable soil
• Removal of the underground fuel tank and contaminated soil
• Validation sampling to confirm proper contamination removal.

The early identification and remediation of the sheep dip, underground storage tank and buried farm waste dump was critical for the overall project and the work was done early in the planning process to prevent delays.