Sand County Environmental, Inc., is a nationally-recognized environmental engineering firm providing a full array of phytoremediation and traditional remediation solutions to private and public service sectors. Our work is most often conducted for owners of landfills, lenders, retail and wholesale agricultural chemical storage facilities, local and state governments, and other property owners where soil, groundwater, or stormwater management issues are of concern.
Phytoremediation is a green technology that we use for a variety of soil, stormwater, wastewater and groundwater remediation or treatment applications, but have you ever wondered what mechanisms trees provide that remediate contaminants?
The answer is not as straightforward as one would think.
Trees may remediate contaminants by a number of mechanisms, including accumulation of contaminants in plant matter, degradation of contaminants through metabolic processes, transformation and volatization of contaminants, absorption of contaminants onto subsurface root systems, stabilization and/or breakdown of contaminants within soil by microbes associated with plant roots, or via a combination of these processes.
Phytoremediation is effective for a number of contaminants, including heavy metals, radionuclides, pesticides, explosives, fuels, nutrients, and organic compounds. Sand County’s experience has primarily applied phytoremediation to nutrients, organic compounds, fuels and pesticides.
Phytoremediation may also provide hydraulic control at a site, as each tree, due to its water uptake by transpiration, acts as a small-scale groundwater pump.
Sand County Environmental has used phytoremediation on a number of contaminated sites across the country, and we look forward to utilizing this technology at more sites in the future! We are always willing to take an initial look at a site/environmental challenge and let you know if ‘phyto’ is applicable.
Recently found some of my old phyto photos
We recently completed spring harvest of one of our two phytoremediation tree plantations. Harvesting these plantations includes initial coppicing, pruning of tree cuttings, and then processing the pruned cuttings into various lengths, depending on the application and planting method for upcoming projects. The tree harvest produced approximately 1,250 cuttings of several hybrid poplar and cottonwood varieties to be used in multiple upcoming projects. We are looking forward to getting these cuttings into the ground and putting them to work!
We all know that wetlands are vitally important features on the landscape, but what characteristics make wetlands so important? For one, wetlands provide bountiful habitats for fish, wildlife, and plants. Wetlands also play a key role in water quality, as well as flood, erosion, and streamflow mitigation. In terms of human interaction, wetlands also provide us with unique opportunities for recreation and environmental education. Overall, wetlands can potentially be some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, with key roles to play in the water, nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon cycles. As such, it is a great gift to take part in wetland delineations and restorations, or have the opportunity to create constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment. We are humbled by the opportunity to work closely with these ecosystems.
