Diesel v. Bamboo (and Environmental Health/Safety)?
March 16, 2016 9:15 AM Subscribe
My neighbor revealed that within the past couple of days he had killed the clump of bamboo that sits between our yards by pouring "a few gallons" of diesel fuel on the area where the roots were. I was mortified. The neighbor did acknowledge it was illegal. What are the ramifications of pouring oil into soil?
My interest in this is only about environmental effects (not legal or social ones). My googling has resulted in sites that offer services or advice for remediation of sites where 10+ gallons have been spilled. There is also the other side of it: people on forums who have done this or offer this as a solution.
The site of the bamboo/diesel "spill" doesn't really look or smell bad. But I am concerned about longer term damage. What should I do to keep my yard/soil safe? Do I need to order something like this? Is there anything I can do at this point to reverse or contain the pollution of groundwater?
My interest in this is only about environmental effects (not legal or social ones). My googling has resulted in sites that offer services or advice for remediation of sites where 10+ gallons have been spilled. There is also the other side of it: people on forums who have done this or offer this as a solution.
The site of the bamboo/diesel "spill" doesn't really look or smell bad. But I am concerned about longer term damage. What should I do to keep my yard/soil safe? Do I need to order something like this? Is there anything I can do at this point to reverse or contain the pollution of groundwater?
Best answer: My friend on chat, an environmental remediation expert, says there's nothing truly useful to do. Sorry. It's not big enough to warrant a clean-up (i.e. physically removing a few cubic yards of earth from the immediate area of the spill and a margin around it) or concern about a plume coming from the spill. At best, he says, build a French drain parallel to the spill and between your yard and the neighbors. But -- even if that did anything -- it's just moving material that might be in a plume elsewhere (i.e. down a city drain).
There's 1000x more leakage coming every day from every gas station in the country. (This is what his company does, remediation for gas stations, usually vapor extraction).
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:51 AM on March 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
There's 1000x more leakage coming every day from every gas station in the country. (This is what his company does, remediation for gas stations, usually vapor extraction).
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:51 AM on March 16, 2016 [5 favorites]
Does your town have a conservation board or city planning department? I would consult with them, they may have someone on staff with professional expertise in environmental remediation and more importantly, they will also have the contacts for professionals you might contact for another opinion (and more insight into the legal aspects. Your neighbor may be on the hook for quite hefty fines if you are anywhere near wetlands, for example).
I am not sure there is anything you can do, although removing the soil might help. And don't ever grow anything that you might eat near there, if you can grow anything ever. If you want to garden anywhere else on your property, have the soil tested for heavy metals, etc. through county extension services.
posted by epanalepsis at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am not sure there is anything you can do, although removing the soil might help. And don't ever grow anything that you might eat near there, if you can grow anything ever. If you want to garden anywhere else on your property, have the soil tested for heavy metals, etc. through county extension services.
posted by epanalepsis at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [1 favorite]
Whether it's impacting the groundwater will depend on a bunch of factors, including your soil type(s), depth to groundwater, whether your neighbor is telling the truth about how many gallons he decided to dump on the bamboo, and whether your neighbor has done this previously.
Bacterial cleanup can work, but it's not magic pixie dust. Remediation contractors have to do tests before using them to see if they will work for any given spill. You have to use the right bacteria and they need the right oxygen levels, nutrient levels, etc.
Whether the state would require him to clean up the spill is also going to vary a lot by location. If he's telling the truth and it was just 2-3 gallons, that's generally considered pretty minimal and probably not something most states are going to go after. (Should you do it: No, obviously. But most states get worried around 5-10 gallons in my experience.)
My bigger concern would be that he saw that you were upset, and therefore isn't telling you about other things he's dumped and/or that he dumped more than that.
posted by pie ninja at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Bacterial cleanup can work, but it's not magic pixie dust. Remediation contractors have to do tests before using them to see if they will work for any given spill. You have to use the right bacteria and they need the right oxygen levels, nutrient levels, etc.
Whether the state would require him to clean up the spill is also going to vary a lot by location. If he's telling the truth and it was just 2-3 gallons, that's generally considered pretty minimal and probably not something most states are going to go after. (Should you do it: No, obviously. But most states get worried around 5-10 gallons in my experience.)
My bigger concern would be that he saw that you were upset, and therefore isn't telling you about other things he's dumped and/or that he dumped more than that.
posted by pie ninja at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Best answer: This brings back memories of my dad using old motor oil to kill stands of invasive honeysuckle. Ugh.
On the upside, diesel has a huge fraction of volatiles--and is nevertheless organic (in the organic chemistry sense)--so residues will be a small fraction of the total volume and slowly digested by bacteria in the soil.
Putting on my toxicology hat, you've got little to worry about in terms of health. Fuel spills dominate the human environment, so this additional source of exposure is not adding much to the background presence of fuels. Environmentally, this might remain a bad spot for some time (months, possibly a couple years), and it'll be a source of hydrocarbon outgassing and degradation products for months (to years, depending on your local environment). I wouldn't use the surrounding area for food production or growing much, but otherwise suggestions like the french drain will help limit the diesel's spread as rains and weather and biology do their job to breakit down.
Sorry!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 10:10 AM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
On the upside, diesel has a huge fraction of volatiles--and is nevertheless organic (in the organic chemistry sense)--so residues will be a small fraction of the total volume and slowly digested by bacteria in the soil.
Putting on my toxicology hat, you've got little to worry about in terms of health. Fuel spills dominate the human environment, so this additional source of exposure is not adding much to the background presence of fuels. Environmentally, this might remain a bad spot for some time (months, possibly a couple years), and it'll be a source of hydrocarbon outgassing and degradation products for months (to years, depending on your local environment). I wouldn't use the surrounding area for food production or growing much, but otherwise suggestions like the french drain will help limit the diesel's spread as rains and weather and biology do their job to breakit down.
Sorry!
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 10:10 AM on March 16, 2016 [4 favorites]
Best answer: So, you can dig up all the dirt where the diesel was spilled (which, by the way, would have been the acceptable, if more chancy way to dispose of the bamboo). You obviously will not get all of the diesel, but you can remove the worst part of the stained soil and dispose of it. That was always step one in contamination jobs where the soil was accessible.
Regarding groundwater and the safety of your lawn, as has been stated that depends on how deep the groundwater table is, the direction of groundwater flow, etc. That bacterial treatment you linked could help with residual contamination, but if you're not going to do a lot of testing, both before and after, and bacteriological testing to see if it's working, it's essentially pointless. And that only makes sense to do after you remove the largest part of the mass. In the remediation business, we did a LOT of expensive testing continuously before, during, and after treatment. You don't want to spend that amount of money. (We also got 50% off the price of most tests from the labs...)
Just for the record, bamboo is horribly invasive and terribly difficult to kill or remove once it's in place; I was always dumbfounded by how commonly it is planted ornamentally. It's like planting Kudzu that doesn't care about cold temperatures and grows straight up instead of strangling everything in sight.
One more thing you're not going to want to hear: I had a job site where we were remediating largely a plume of chlorinated solvents (primarily trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene). There were also a couple different spots contaminated with 5-30 gallons of #2 fuel oil. Those spots were at least 40 years old, and we were still pulling black oil out of the ground, 40 years later. We also kept finding new pockets a bit later. This in groundwater only ~6 feet from the surface of the ground, in a very transmissive soil layer, albeit protected by a concrete slab. Residual contamination sticks around a long time. Your contamination shouldn't be bad, but if this is important to you, the thing to do is start digging it up (maybe arrange something with your neighbor? Good luck if he already admitted to doing something illegal, though) right away and remove the largest amounts of stained soil.
posted by Strudel at 11:03 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Regarding groundwater and the safety of your lawn, as has been stated that depends on how deep the groundwater table is, the direction of groundwater flow, etc. That bacterial treatment you linked could help with residual contamination, but if you're not going to do a lot of testing, both before and after, and bacteriological testing to see if it's working, it's essentially pointless. And that only makes sense to do after you remove the largest part of the mass. In the remediation business, we did a LOT of expensive testing continuously before, during, and after treatment. You don't want to spend that amount of money. (We also got 50% off the price of most tests from the labs...)
Just for the record, bamboo is horribly invasive and terribly difficult to kill or remove once it's in place; I was always dumbfounded by how commonly it is planted ornamentally. It's like planting Kudzu that doesn't care about cold temperatures and grows straight up instead of strangling everything in sight.
One more thing you're not going to want to hear: I had a job site where we were remediating largely a plume of chlorinated solvents (primarily trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene). There were also a couple different spots contaminated with 5-30 gallons of #2 fuel oil. Those spots were at least 40 years old, and we were still pulling black oil out of the ground, 40 years later. We also kept finding new pockets a bit later. This in groundwater only ~6 feet from the surface of the ground, in a very transmissive soil layer, albeit protected by a concrete slab. Residual contamination sticks around a long time. Your contamination shouldn't be bad, but if this is important to you, the thing to do is start digging it up (maybe arrange something with your neighbor? Good luck if he already admitted to doing something illegal, though) right away and remove the largest amounts of stained soil.
posted by Strudel at 11:03 AM on March 16, 2016 [3 favorites]
Those spots were at least 40 years old, and we were still pulling black oil out of the ground, 40 years later.
My friend's office has example bottles of earth contaminated with fuel oil that are 70+ years old. They're on display like pitch drop examples to show that the oil isn't moving via gravity. Or rather, it's moving, but only on a geologic time scale.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:05 PM on March 16, 2016
My friend's office has example bottles of earth contaminated with fuel oil that are 70+ years old. They're on display like pitch drop examples to show that the oil isn't moving via gravity. Or rather, it's moving, but only on a geologic time scale.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 12:05 PM on March 16, 2016
A few gallons of diesel is far below the minimum reporting amounts for a spill here (and is far less than every old tractor is dribbling out every day). The only reason this would raise a red flag here is if the diesel was poured directly into a stream -- on the ground this is considered not exactly best environmental practice, but not at the scale to require any kind of official response.
Mixing diesel into herbicide sprays is one of those old-school techniques that are still common, as is using diesel or gas to kill weeds. That's not to excuse it, but it is definitely something that lots of people think of as a normal thing to do.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:21 PM on March 16, 2016
Mixing diesel into herbicide sprays is one of those old-school techniques that are still common, as is using diesel or gas to kill weeds. That's not to excuse it, but it is definitely something that lots of people think of as a normal thing to do.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:21 PM on March 16, 2016
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If you want to, call your county/state version of department of natural resources (DNR/DEQ), but you can really be opening a hornets nest.
(Local example: a guy hired some fly-by-night folks to tar/seal his driveway. They poured diesel all over, did a crap job and disappeared. Guy had to pay $$$ to cleanup/remediate the problem. He didn't spill it, but still had to pay. I can't remember if he also had to pay a fine.)
posted by k5.user at 9:28 AM on March 16, 2016