Tuesday, March 11, 2014

How Containment Berms Can Help Prevent Spills To Spread

By Jaclyn Hurley


Vast quantities of toxic substances and poisons are manufactured each year and millions of tons of it is transported by rail, sea or by road annually. It comes as no surprise to learn that spills regularly occur, poisoning the immediate area and creating an emergency situation for the environment and humans alike. Limiting the area polluted by a spill is the very first priority, and this is where containment berms have proved invaluable.

When a spill occurs, the first and most urgent priority is to take steps to prevent that the spill spreads. However, this is only the first step in a process that can be complicated, dangerous and time consuming. In many cases it is necessary to deal with the spilled toxins in adverse conditions and specialist equipment and trained staff is not always readily available.

New ways of cleaning spills have been the subject of intense efforts and there have been promising developments. Cleaning crews now use agents that are able to completely absorb the spilled chemicals. Other agents act as accelerating agents, hastening the natural breakdown of the harmful toxins. Once the process is complete the chemicals can be transported to specially equipped disposal sites.

Environmentalists are very excited about a new agent that promises to be highly efficient in dealing with spilled substances. This agent not only absorbs the harmful chemicals, but it actually transforms it into a harmless form. Even better, resultant mass is used productively in the manufacture of various bitumen and road construction products. In this way the cleaning operations can pay for themselves or at least lessening the cost.

Unfortunately, some harmful chemicals cannot be dissolved, absorbed, changed into another substance or even broken down. When such spills occur in bodies of water, the only way in which to clean the spill is to use sophisticated machinery designed to separate the chemicals from the water. Once this is achieved, the chemicals can be skimmed into containers and taken away for disposal. Unfortunately, this is a time consuming process.

Cleaning operations of this nature is very expensive and they require specially trained people to deal with the spill safely. Because resources are so scarce, authorities are not able to pay attention to every spill. Instead, they concentrate their efforts on densely populated areas, environmentally sensitive areas and areas that are of special significance such as historical or heritage sites. Spills in heavy seas, for example, are often ignored.

Many environmentalists are of the opinion that companies dealing with chemicals and toxins are not properly regulated. Spills often occur without any cleaning materials or equipment being available. In many cases there are no trained cleaning crews available. They also argue that it should not be the tax payer that should foot the bill for such cleaning operations, as is often the case at present.

Pollution remains one of the biggest threats to the environment and to human health. Spills can have disastrous consequences and spill sites often remain contaminated for many years. Everything possible should be done to prevent spills and when they do occur cleaning operations should be the highest priority of all involved.




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