ALS Laboratory and HydroQual Labs are testing a rapid assay for Petroleum Hydrocarbons (PHC) contaminated soils. The assay method, (based on the Microtox test for contaminated water), if proven, may provide evidence to Alberta Environment that the detailed work required under Tier 1 reclamation criteria for a soil that presumably has been contaminated with PHCs can be relaxed since the assay would provide evidence that the PHCs have aged on the reclamation site through weathering, sorption on clay, degradation and partition on organic matter.
John describes the work in progress to test the assay process. The point of the Microtox assay would be to identify sites whose PHC contamination is high enough that the reclamation should move directly to PHC rehabilitation rather than go through a costly Weight of Evidence approach under Tier 2 that would result in the same finding.
John Ashworth is a Senior Soil Scientist with ALS Laboratory Group, Edmonton. His presentation was part of the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada's Soil and Groundwater Forum in Calgary, Alberta, March 25, 2013
