Brownfield countermeasures with a focus on exit strategy

Overview

After the enactment of the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act in 2003, soil and groundwater contamination countermeasures in the real estate market focused heavily on excavation and removal, which is relatively costly, and a problem known as "brownfield" became apparent. Even after legal revisions, the systems themselves have become complicated and difficult to understand due to the obligatory surveys when there are changes in form or nature, the application system for voluntary surveys, and the repeated revision of technical guidelines. Currently, it is becoming difficult for companies to proceed with measures for dealing with soil and groundwater contamination according to their own plans.

Effective groundwater pollution countermeasures: Bioremediation countermeasures

As a recent technical issue, chloroethylene, which is a harmful decomposition product such as trichloroethylene, has become a new standard for designation. There are now cases in which a long period of time is required to purify contaminated groundwater. There are also sites where groundwater purification has continued since before the Act came into effect, but the purification has not progressed as expected. In order to deal with such groundwater pollution, OYO Corporation proposes anaerobic bioremediation, which utilizes the power of microorganisms that originally inhabited the ground. In particular, we propose optimal bioremediation measures through compatibility tests called "treatability tests". These tests reproduce the local groundwater environment.

In our bioremediation, we design the injection amount and injection pitch based on the results of treatability tests. We also conduct pilot tests on-site and calculate the optimum design values while simulating the injection situation. In addition to enabling purification while operating, this kind of bioremediation also has the advantage of faster purification.
OYO Corporation believes that the brownfield problem can be solved through the keyword of "sustainable remediation (SR)", which is a decision-making process that considers sustainability measures, including the utilization of land after purification. SR is an initiative that not only reduces the environmental impact of soil and groundwater pollution control, but also considers social and economic aspects. SR is mainly popular mainly in Europe and the United States; however, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is also actively promoting SR.

One-stop support for solving brownfield problems

Submitting notifications to the Japanese government based on the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Act involves strict screenings. In some cases, notifications and construction reports may be rejected depending on how they were written or how the attached photographs were taken. For business operators, there are often cases where such rejection causes unexpectedly large schedule changes and increases in construction costs.
In addition to offering Reliable Legal Support, which provides total coordination for such difficult administrative procedures, the OYO Group also cooperates with insurance companies to provide Guaranteed Survey Services as a method of handling risks when selling real estate.
OYO Corporation provides total support for our clients' brownfield countermeasures, including countermeasure project planning and investigation, countermeasure design that pursues cost balance, and appropriate construction management.