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Remote Remediation: Restoration in the Rainforest

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Due to civil and political unrest in Peru, especially in the Amazonian regions, the national oil infrastructure has been vandalized. In North Peru, the ONP pipeline was cut, causing a crude oil spill that stretched more than 1,600 meters from the break, covering 26,445 square meters and impacting 3,282 cubic meters of a channel connecting to the Maranon River.  The impacted area is of local importance for two indigenous Amazonian tribes, San Juan de Mojarayacu and Santa Ana.

 Geo2 were approached to help design a solution by Ogreen, an in-country team who specialise in spill response and logistics. Peru has minimal experience in treating environmental issues and generally resorts to landfill disposal, but in an environment where the nearest landfill is over 1,000km away partnering with Geo2 provided a more cost-effective option to treat waste water and material.

Indigenous Tribal Lands

Getting to the spill was not without its challenges!

Access to the land required negotiation with the elders and local community who were very wary of outsiders. In the weeks leading up to Geo2 arriving, indigenous people had detained tourists in protest over oil spills in other areas.

To carefully manage and respect the local tribes whose land was affected, Ogreen employed dedicated community liaison officers, employed 292 local tribes people, provided medical and emergency care, and made donations to the tribes in the form of monetary support, food and refreshments for local events.

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the tribes people
Before pic 1
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Before pic 3
Oil Spill 1
Oil Spill 2.jpg

Site Challenges

The release site, 2.5km deep into Loreto province's remote rainforest on the Maranon river's north bank, posed logistical challenges. The 850m wide river is the region's primary transportation route, with the nearest roads ending 121km downstream. Access involved a boat journey followed by a narrow track on foot to reach the spill site.
 
All remediation equipment was procured locally in Peru which was complicated due to Peru’s less mature water treatment sector. All equipment had to be modular and Geo2 and Ogreen engineers collaborated to find and design a suitable solution. The principal tools for the job included motorbikes, manpower and machetes.
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Map of area
Walkway
River

The fix

 Characterisation of the harm identified four areas for clean-up:
The Fix
Approximately 301 tonnes of impacted vegetation was stripped, shredded and collected.
 
Two identical water treatment plants with product separation, silt mitigation and granular activated carbon units were built in the jungle by Geo2 engineers, with each plant being designed to receive water from an 800m section of the watercourse. A total of 23,000m3 of surface water was treated and discharged to the channel. 
 
Grossly impacted soils and sediments were also excavated by hand. Sediments were deposited in drying beds and placed in sacks for disposal, in total approximately 430 tonnes of soils and sediments were quarantined and removed. 
 
Remaining sediments within the channel and flooded areas were disturbed using high pressure water jets, dislodging remaining crude oil which was collected using organic absorbent material and skimmers. Oil absorbent booms, silt dams and impermeable control points were placed in sections along the line of the channel as works progressed. 45 tonnes of crude oil and 33 tonnes of saturated organic absorbent were removed.
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Removing sediment
Removing vegetation
water treatment

Results

Maximum recorded TPH concentrations (evaluation and validation) were as follows:

Peru Results-1

OEFA (Peruvian Environmental Assessment and Control Agency) inspected the works at the validation stage and were satisfied that the project had successfully removed the risk from the oil spill. The demobilisation works systematically removed the remediation infrastructure, access roads and camps, allowing jungle to return. 
The project had its challenges but was successfully delivered in an inhospitable but globally important environmental setting, restoring the channel so that the local tribes could once again use it for transport, fishing and agricultural purposes.

Geo2 are proud of our involvement in this project, pioneering sustainable treatment solutions at the very frontier. This project has genuinely made a difference not just to the indigenous tribes or our partners at Ogreen but goes to the very heart of what Geo2 are here to do, protecting and restoring our environment to make a happier and healthier place.

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After pic 1
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Award Winning

Ogreen and Geo2 were delighted that our work for the remediation of this crude oil spill was judged to be the winner of the Brownfield Briefing Best International Project, 2023. 

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Award
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