Dear Dr. Saravanamuttu Subramaniam Sivakumar,

Yes, it is possible by installing costly treatment units consisting of special filters or air strippers. At low cost level through use of carbon filter or a reverse osmosis filter.

Yes, the oil can be removed from groundwater. In such case you may try with activated carbon adsorption. Otherwise charcoal having some affinity towards oilcan be used as a low cost adsorbent. 

Hi,

I'm not an expert in this area, but there is a massive clean up of oil spills done by oil-degrading bacteria..........this has been done at Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the gulf of Mexico..........

Microbes have a range of monooxygenases and dioxygenses that can be used to fragment aromatic rings and even aliphatic alkanes can be broken down by alkane monooxygenases. 

You can isolate and use these microorganisms in ponds/reservoirs but they should be used in caution due to the possible impact on human health (toxins etc) and should be integrated with chemical and physical methods. There should be, just like dengue, an integrated approach to sanitizing water resources.  

There might be a case of salination of aquifers too around Jaffna, Again, I'm no expert in these areas. 

The article below gives an accurate account of the landscape of oil-degradation

http://metagenomaiberico.org/pdf/fr/05.pdf

Hope this information was of some benefit.

Best Wishes

Dilantha

When the ground water is contaminated, purifying it to a level of drinking can be extremely difficult for several reasons:

Ø  The complexity of aquifers structures. Aquifers can contain cracked and fractured rocks and other geological variations. These variations can act as nooks and crannies that hold contaminants or create additional pathways for contaminants to follow. Both situations make removing contaminants difficult.

Ø  Not all contaminants behave the same in ground water. Different contaminants behave differently in ground water, which can make them hard to locate and remove, complicating cleanup. Some do not mix with or dissolve readily in water. Some are heavier than water and sink to the bottom of an aquifer, such as dry-cleaning solvents. Other contaminants are lighter than water and float on top, such as petroleum products like jet fuel and gasoline.

Ø  Difficulties to locating the contamination. The ability of technology to find contaminants in ground water is limited. Samples from ground water wells do not always provide enough information about the extent of ground water contamination. Other devices for detecting contaminants and identifying variations in the underground rock and soil can also help, but only to a certain degree.

Ø  Some limitations of technology used. Treatment technologies are limited in their ability to clean up an aquifer, even if the location of the contaminants is known. Frequently, ground water is cleaned by pumping it to the surface for treatment. After contaminants have been removed, the water is discharged back into the ground or to a stream or river. Even then, some contamination remains in the aquifer, which can continue to contaminate the ground water. Contaminants that cannot be pumped to the surface with the water must be treated underground, making cleanup more difficult, expensive, and time consuming.

It is old saying that oil can not mix with water. When a combination of both can take place, the law of partition take place and thus, oil layer in the top and water on the bottom. If system is under controlled environment, it can be separated but the process may be difficult in uncontrolled water system. In present case the oil leakage problem, which comes under the controlled system. Oil pollution has a big concern and it must be taken care. In particular groundwater concerned and in limited areas, clay, Zeolite and anthracite can be used as absorption media. This is cast effective also. In addition to this activated carbon may be a solution. However a mass aware and higher ups supports is very much effective to solve this.

Dear Sivakumar

I have read both of your attachments with interest. I am pleased with the efforts taken by yourself and other experts/interested parties in Sri Lanka to have investigated and brought this issue forward for actions and solutions. I hope a similar approach is taken by others in countries like Sri Lanka to review historical or current practices on the disposal and management of hazardous substances such as waste petroleum products.

The bad news is that the developing countries are not alone on this very issue. Many developed nations had inherited many such contaminated sites due to poor management. The good news is that they have come to terms with such issues and have begun regulating the use and management of the hazardous substances stringently. Again, the bad news is that currently, many developed countries are spending millions to decontaminate similar contaminated sites in their own countries. But the good news is that globally, practical, effective and deployable methods and knowledge do exist to decontaminate such sites.

I hope you could implement the recommendations made in your technical report, of which supplying alternative source of potable water appears to have been implemented already. The other key recommendation was to remove the source. I am not sure how far you have progressed on this matter. Apart from caring for the affected community the next and foremost urgent action is to clean up the source site as soon as practicable. Otherwise the contamination will continue and the plume may extend further into the aquifer. All contaminated materials have to be removed as practicable as possible and the site should be filled with clean material, lined (capped) and managed similar to closed landfills to avoid rainwater ingression so that any remaining oil materials within the contaminated soil profile are not leached further into the aquifers. 

The next and the most difficult step is to find methods to clean-up the aquifer. Logistically, I don't think it is practical to pump the entire contaminated water, store, treat and re-inject. Therefore you need to consider any effective in-situ methods. There are number oxidants one can use (e.g. H2O2 + FeSO4 mixture) to inject to oxidise the oil material. But because of exothermic reactions this has to be managed by professionals. Specific bacterial cultures could also be used (i.e. bioremediation), but the efficiency depends on the aquifer characteristics.

My suggestion is, your and your colleagues' efforts are worth spent on securing sufficient funding through the government (Sri Lankan govt could seek funds from its trading partners or its wealthy allies) and tender the entire decontamination process to a reputable international commercial company. Any contract has to be legally binding and provide guarantee of significant decontamination of the aquifer.

On the other topic of nitrate, I am very concerned about the extent of nitrate pollution in the same aquifer. I don't think decontamination is a practical solution. The long-term solution is to focus on the source which is educating surrounding subsistent farmers to minimise nitrate leaching by using sensible and well proven agronomical practices (e.g. adopting green manure  practices to boost organic-C in Jaffna soils which will improve moisture holding capacity of sandy loams while reducing nitrate leaching).

I hope this helps.

Yes by adsorption techniques as:

1- Activated Carbon

2- Charcoal

3- Carbon nanotubes

Please go through this:

Posted by Guy McGowen

East Coast Archaea

The answer to your question is found in a technology called BioRemediation. The "Father" of this technology was  Dr Carl H. Oppenheimer jr. The microbial species he discovered and worked with for more than 40 years was called ARCHAEA. Their singular function in nature is to reduce organic compounds into their elemental form.  Once they are in contact with the oil. (or any toxic substance) they will biodegrade it until it reaches elemental form. In this case carbon. The by products are usually oxygen and any other impurities in that grade of oil. Results are a potable drinking water, nutrients normally found in nature which will be consumed by all life in the soil and of course highly oxygenated water usable by all. 

 First open water test was in 1990, Houston channel by University of Texas and The Texas land commission  many international uses since then. Most notably the Spain oil spill, the Galapagos island, the north sea of japan. a total of 2500 clean ups around the world.   For info and reports/pictures and videos email [email protected]. 

https://water.tallyfox.com/answer/it-possible-remove-contaminated-oil-ground-water-used-agriculture-and-drinking

May be you check, Pp5

Table 1 – Oil and grease removal technologies based on size of removable particles.

http://www.all-llc.com/publicdownloads/ALLConsulting-WaterTreatmentOptionsReport.pdf

I am not an expert on this field, but I believe, provided political willingness and sufficient funding, it will be possible to clear water from oil pollution.

Dear All,

Oil contamination can be removed from the soil by oil-eater microorganisms e.g. Nocardia spp. My father in law was microbiologist and had many patents which were used in Hungary. Even some of these patents have been stolen by more than one countries.

 https://www.sintef.no/en/news/super-bacteria-cleaning-up-after-oil-spills/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/8237119_Effects_of_Crude_Oil_Oil_Components_and_Bioremediation_on_Plant_Growth

Article Effects of Crude Oil, Oil Components, and Bioremediation on ...

There is a lot of information and methods to clean contaminated groundwater. Even so, it seems that the technology does not always work or maybe never works. In North America abandoned oil/gas stations are being avoided even for building a house on top of it, although water is piped from a river, etc. In some cases, the contaminated soil is removed bit by bit and replaced with clean soil, but his is a huge undertaking.

It is too late to say it, but whose idea was to use oil and gas for energy production? It is a DIRTY business that we will never recover from it.

The oil in the well water can be decreased in 6 months by physical, chemical and biological processes. If someone is reporting a result obtained 6 months ago may have changed now. Physical: evaporation by heat and wind; chemical: by excess nitrate and other oxidizing agents.  Nitrates in the water are useful in this action; (In many places nitrates are pumped into the water to remove dissolved hydrocarbons); Biological: many bacteria consume hydrocarbon as their food. Possibly oil was present originally and no wonder they decreased by physical, chemical and biological degradation. This natural degradation process will continue, without waiting for the, administrators and politicians settle their issues.This will take much time. Ues of items like Biosanitizer will be the best way to keep the water  clean of all pollutants. If one could arrange with Northern Provincial Council experts in this field could be brought from India to solve the issue. http://www.wastetohealth.com/biosanitizer_ecotechnology.html -To prevent further addition of waste oil into the well waters all patches of oil found around the power plant must be treated and cleared.

Ecorestoration of ponds, lakes & rivers - http://www.wastetohealth.com/ecorestoration_presentation.html

It is good to look at the data collected from the Ground radar and check for any further damage done to the ground near the power station.   Now that Chunnakam has got a new power plant with better Environmental Management must arrange with CEB to Terminate the contract for having polluted the ground water and claim damages for all the damage caused so far when the court case in Mallakam results also become available.

BIOSANITIZER Mechanism:  

BIOSANITIZER Ecotechnology involves using the BIOSANITIZER bio-catalyst granules in fluids (liquids and gases) and using the remediated fluid as a resource for healing the ecosystem.

BIOSANITIZER granules convert polluted water into clean water, which also becomes a resource for eco-logical restoration of wells, borewells, water storage tanks, ponds and lakes. This action can be summarized as follows:

Pollution problems arise due to nitrates. Hence nitrate management is crucial. Low-nitrate systems develop self-healing ability.  Inorganic as well as toxic organic pollutants get converted into resources, in low-nitrate systems.

Conventional denitrification technique consumes organic food and oxygen, to produce CO2 and waste heat. Nature prefers another reaction, i.e., combining nitrates, CO2 and waste heat to produce organics and oxygen. Green plants and also the BIOSANITIZER use this reaction. It is a resource-generating mechanism, while conventional denitrification is a wasteful reaction. Hence there are alarms associated with the conventional denitrification process.

BIOSANITIZER is a natural catalyst; 100 mg of this product has the capacity of 1 acre of rich natural forest, in terms of its nitrate utilization, CO2 trapping and oxygen production ability.

By adding BIOSANITIZER in a stream or a reservoir of polluted water, we get not only clean water, but the treated water has a potential to clean the whole ecosystem, without producing any other waste stream and without producing greenhouse gases. In fact, the treated water starts absorbing the CO2 and NOx from the air, thus helping ease the pollution that has increased by about 25% after we started using the fossil fuels.

Methodology that was used to develop the BIOSANITIZER and also to crack its mechanism can be learnt through the ’Methodology Articles’ at http://www.wastetohealth.com/methodology_articles.html. The following digital scale was also useful in analyzing the natural events. Mild (1st digit) pollution is converted into ‘visible’ indicators.  A 2nd digit pollution sounds audible alarms, 3rd digit pollution is indicated to our skin, 4th digit pollution warns us through creation of odor or through short-term illness and 5th digit pollution causes premature death

http://www.wastetohealth.com/ecorestoration_presentation.html

http://www.wastetohealth.com/biosanitizer_ecotechnology.htm

Thank you very much for conducive comments

It is understood by communication with Biosanitizer staff that they were brought to Sri Lanka after Tsunami to the East to clear the pollution and the ingress of sea water into the wells in tsunami effected parts in the eastern province.

They claim that they successfully cleared the pollutants in pond wells etc.

What is required now would be to influence the Northern provincial council to approach the Indian Embassy for help in this matter.

Adding ecochips into few affected wells is supposed to clear all the pollution by waste oil in all the well. It will remove high nitrite as well  - They have devised this from a vedic method by which the Ganges river keeps itself clean in spite of all pollutants including half burnt dead bodies in Kasi - People could say that it works in running water but it has been proved to be successful in wells and pond as well as done in eastern province.

Please see - Keshav Krishi method of farming for organic coffee, spices in Kodagu, Karnataka and cleaning up of water bodies by Guruvani developed by Swami Valmiki Sreenivasa Ayyangarya

Article Keshav Krishi method of farming for organic coffee, spices i...

yes

yes

 Hyrax Ceypetco Samudra 440 equivalent marin oil  

Mobilgard M50 by ExxonMobil are premium, extra high performance 50 TBN engine oils designed for use in the most severe residual-fuelled medium-speed diesel applications found in marine and stationary power industries. - Lube oils like this would have been used for the power plants like NPC HFO fueled diesel power plant.  Product Description

Mobilgard M50 by ExxonMobil are premium, extra high performance 50 TBN engine oils designed for use in the most severe residual-fuelled medium-speed diesel applications found in marine and stationary power industries. These market leading trunk piston engine oils are formulated utilizing the latest in additive detergent technology and provide outstanding residual fuel compatibility characteristics for excellent engine cleanliness, especially in crankcase, camshaft areas, ring belt and piston under crowns. They also demonstrate excellent high temperature oxidation and thermal stability, low volatility, and high load carrying properties and corrosion protection.

SAFETY DATA SHEET - please see attached .doc

This material should not be used for any other purpose than the intended use in Section 1 without expert advice. Health studies have shown that chemical exposure may cause potential human health risks which may vary from person to person.

  SECTION 3

 COMPOSITION / INFORMATION ON INGREDIENTS

 This material is defined as a mixture.SALTS OF ALKYL HYDROXYBENZOIC ACIDS SULFONIC ACIDS, PETROLEUM, CALCIUM SALTS

ZINC ALKYL DITHIOPHOSPHATE BENZOIC ACID, HYDROXYL- MONO-C20-28-BRANCHED ALKYL DERIVES., CALCIUM SALTS (2:1)

CALCIUM LONG CHAIN ALKYLPHENOL

CARBONIC ACID, CALCIUM SALT (1:1)

LINEAR ALKYLPHENOL

MOBILITY

             Base oil component -- Low solubility and floats and is expected to migrate from water to the land.  Expected to partition to sediment and wastewater solids.

PERSISTENCE AND DEGRADABILITY

Biodegradation:

             Base oil component --  Expected to be inherently biodegradable  

 BIOACCUMULATION POTENTIAL

             Base oil component -- Has the potential to bioaccumulate, however metabolism or physical properties may reduce the bioconcentration or limit bioavailability.from water to the land.  Expected to partition to sediment and wastewater solids.

   SECTION 13

 DISPOSAL CONSIDERATIONS

Disposal recommendations based on material as supplied.  Disposal must be in accordance

http://www.exxonmobil.com/Australia-English/Marine/PDS/GLXXENMRNEMMobilgard_M50.aspx

http://lubesdirect.com.au/catalog/product/mobilgard-m50/

 Dear Dr. Saravanamuttu Subramaniam Sivakumar,

Yes, it is possible by installing costly treatment units consisting of special filters or air strippers. At low cost level through use of carbon filter or a reverse osmosis filter.

Since I was invited to visit the thread and asked to reply: This situation really  is deplorable and I don't like to know about or comment further on the cause of oil contamination (naturally occuring oil contamination or most likely man-made??). I think and see that there have been made several posts regarding how to overcome the situation and perhaps coming to realistic solutions. Unfortunately I don't have any clue or solution at hand, especially for a necessary treatment of such a big area. My best wishes and regards WM

Thanks for your comments this is man made. one of the report of a fact finding mission is attached for your reference please

Data Report of the fact finding mission on water pollution conducted on 14

Yes, but it depends on identified  types of containment compounds.

One we get the information then way of treatment strategies can be followed.

Thank you.

I have passed this question to some soil scientists working on the Cd issue. Let's see what they have to say.

Dear Dr. Pradeep kumar,I am much impressed with your current research.Please contactme on 08885749223 for further discussion--K.S.Sastry

YES, you can use biosorbent like AC ( Activated Carbon), synthesis from marine algae or agriculture waste. or you can use anaerobic degredation for oil.

As for use of contaminated water in agriculture, some of the contaminated water could percolate back into the groundwater (e.g. water table aquifer or semi-confined aquifer) contaminating it or contaminating parts of the groundwater which were originally not contaminated.

Additionally some of the contaminants could remain on the agricultural produce and enter the human or animal food chain.

Each type of contaminant will have toxicity unique to it. Degradation of rates of contaminants in natural environments would depend on the type of soil (e.g. soil moisture, soil organic matter etc.), humidity, temperature, type of contaminants etc.

As Dr Afaq Ahmad mentions treating contaminated water most likely be economically prohibitive for a country like Sri Lanka.