Mapping and rehabilitation of brownflelds in the city of Izhevsk

摘要

The term "Brownfield" has no equivalent in the Russian language, but the problem arises in every industrial city. Geochemical mapping of Izhevsk municipal area was conducted in the 1990s. According to its results, high degrees of soil contamination were discovered within industrial zones and in nearby territories. There are several examples of rehabilitation projects in Izhevsk, and they show various remediation strategies. One of the residential districts in Izhevsk was built on the site of a disused airport. The remainder of pesticides for agricultural aviation was not moved off. The cleanup project was completed later by excavation of contaminated soil. A few years ago the building of a former ball bearing plant was reconstructed as an office center. Environmental investigation of the site revealed dangerous soil and groundwater contamination by lubricating oil. The cleanup was carried out by pumping oil through special bore-wells. The most difficult situation is connected with metallurgical works. From the 1760s till the 1980s metallurgical slag had been deposited on the cove of the Izhevsk pond. Slag increases alkalinity of the groundwater, and alkaline water, in its turn, lixiviates 6-valent chromium from slag into the pond. Since excavation is not possible in the mentioned case, our project is based on creating an artificial geochemical barrier for chromium ions deposition. Natural peat will be used as the main material for the geochemical barrier.