Grant: Engage Grants Program

Problems of leakage/spill from pipelines and storage tanks in petroleum industries have been paid significant attention in the past decades. Soil and groundwater at thousands of sites have been contaminated by petroleum products. Such contamination is acquiring more and more attention by the public and governments. The study site (Cantuar Gas Plant Site), located in western Canada, has been contaminated by the waste liquid which was disposed of in an underground storage tank (UST) for many years. Although a number of site investigation and remediation work have been undertaken and implemented by Stantec, insights of site contamination, risk levels at different phases and many process variables are still uncertain. To solve such problem and make up the capability limitations of Stantec, a new research partnership between Stantec and Environmental Systems Engineering program (EVSE) at the University of Regina will be established. This is the first time that they will collaborate in R&D of effective remediation technologies although they have made significant achievements in their respective fields. Researchers from both sides promise to work together on efficient pollution control with complete practicality and predictability. Through the collaborations, the developed technologies will be directly used by Stantec for improving their performance from both economic and environmental points of view. Results of this research will help various contaminated sites with a set of technologies to improve their effectiveness in remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, and bring tremendous benefits to a number of sites all over the country. This project will also help to develop expertise for graduate students,and researchers in application of developed system for solving problems of soil and groundwater contamination. The student and researchers will then be capable of addressing the future environmental management challenges for governments and industries.