The scope of the project
A petrol station in Spain had a leak contaminating groundwater. After repairing the leak and remediating the site, Wolftank Austria put in place its SST contamination monitoring and detection system, to make continuous follow up of the site in case new contamination appeared again.
The challenge
The petrol station is in a high dense city and the contamination was affecting underground a parking and buildings, in addition threatening human health. After its reparation and restoration, it was essential to make sure that a “reboot” of the contamination did not appear again. Firstly, regulators requested a bi-monthly manual monitoring. But, after showing Wolftank Austria SST system, they decided to definitely apply this method.
The solution
The first step was to ensure that remediation was completed and that the groundwater had no hydrocarbons. Then, Wolftank Austria controlled 3 wells: 2 were 2” and 1 was 4”. The team installed the SST systems in the wells and covered them with the standard metal lid of the chamber. Afterwards, they installed the repeaters as close as possible to their sensors, thus ensuring a good radiofrequency communication. Finally, the gateway was in place and te team checked that the system worked properly. The total installation process only took 1,5 hours!
Three weeks after the implementation of the system, the sensor detected contamination in “P3” and in “P1”. It showed an initial reboot and mobilization of the old spill. This allowed a quick intervention and the required recovery measurements application. Later, the team installed again the sensors in order to keep monitoring and detecting any new alert. A couple of times the alarm was triggered. But always the team took corrective actions, following the introduction of sensors again.
In conclusion, Wolftank Austria sensors saved time and money allowing for a very quick detection of a reboot. The team was able to easily apply the correction activities since the beginning of the episode.
The outcome
The team still monitors the sensor in well “P11”, in case a reboot also occurs in that area. However, the system has been successfully working for over 3 years without alarm in this well.
For more information about the SST contamination monitoring and detection system, please click here.
Find out more details about its release, on our news section.
To download the product presentation, click here.
Another successful case study focused on the storage tank farm sector, available here.