10-04-2017, 08:31 PM
Around the world, there is an increasing trend in areas of land, surface waters and groundwater affected by contamination from industrial, military and agricultural activities either due to ignorance, lack of vision, or carelessness. The build-up of toxic pollutants (metals, radionuclides and organic contaminants in soil, surface water and ground water) not only affects natural resources but also causes a major strain on ecosystems. Remediation of contaminated sites using conventional practices, such as pump-and-treat and dig-and-dump techniques, is often expensive, has limited potential, and is usually only applicable to small areas. Additionally, these conventional approaches to remediation often make the soil infertile and unsuitable for agriculture and other uses by destroying the microenvironment. Hence there is the need to develop and apply alternative, environmentally sound technologies (ESTs), taking into account the probable end use of the site once it has been remediated.
