Following a competitive tender Ecologia Srl (Italy) was awarded the contract to carry out in-situ remediation of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated solvents near  a main railway station in Northern Italy.

The implementation of the remediation project (designed by the client) consisted in the injection of potassium permanganate in groundwater via ten (no. 10) injection wells using a centralised mixing/injection system connected to a network of supply pipes in trenches below ground level.

Drilling activities and pipelines installation were undertaken by a subcontractor under Ecologia supervision whist the injection system was entirely produced and installed by Ecologia. A programmable PLC was used to automate the phases of mixing and injection of the permanganate solution reducing the manpower requirement only for the reagent load phases resulting in a significant reduction of costs.

The work commenced in November 2015 with the construction of the injection wells and was completed in July 2016, after three injections of permanganate undertaken at quarterly intervals.

The remediation objectives were to reduce the concentration of chlorinated solvents dissolved in the groundwater down to QRA calculated values, within the project time, on budget and to client’s satisfaction.

The most delicate and challenging  phase of the work was the drilling of seven (no. 7) injection wells located just outside the train station along very busy and crowded city streets with the presence of several underground services and overhead lines.