A Review of Historical Soil Remediation Costs by Method, Scope & Scale

Predicting the cost of remediation projects has been a major issue for the industry since the remediation industry emerged as a separate field of engineering in the 1990s and today many projects still end up in disputes over cost overruns. The presentation will analyse an historical database of ex-situ and insitu soil remediation projects both published and generously contributed by several remediation contractors including EESI, EPS, GEO Inc, MC2, Ventia  and others. For each remediation method, costs have been converted to 2018 dollars and cubic metre rates calculated for remediation quantities. Project scopes have been analysed to identify non-remediation items that may influence costs.

The reasons that remediation costs and rates may vary widely for a particular method may include:
- Geotechnical considerations particularly where retaining walls or difficult ground conditions exist;
- Poor characterisation of contamination type and concentration;
- Unforeseen (and foreseen) technical issues;
- Time and space considerations (often driven by development requirements); and
- External factors such as landfill levies.

We will conclude the session with audience driven questions and answers. Please email me at elearning@landandgroundwater.com with any detailed aspects of the subject you would like addressed.

John Hunt is a Senior Technical Adviser with Ventia's Remediation Group, where he is responsible for evaluating technical and regulatory requirements of remediation projects. He is also involved in external communications, interpreting remediation plans for project stakeholders including regulators and the community. John has worked in the contaminated site assessment and remediation industry for 25 years and was President of the Australasian Land and Groundwater Association in 2013 and 2014.