Environmental monitoring

VICESIMA carries out testing, analysis and assessment of the state of the environment in order to observe the changes taking place in it. We run monitoring on a national and a local scale — for example within the impact zone of industrial facilities, as an environmental analysis. Our offer covers environmental testing, groundwater and surface water testing, soil testing, and testing of living nature and noise.

An important complement to this is measuring the volume of pollutants released into the environment: the quantity and composition of wastewater discharged into water bodies, and the accumulation and characteristics of waste.

Water, waste and industrial wastewater testing

It is worth remembering that a local groundwater monitoring network is not mandatory equipment for industrial facilities. In many cases, where ground and water conditions allow, a plant can save not only the cost of installing piezometers but also the cost of sampling and analysis in the years that follow.

Groundwater monitoring must nevertheless be carried out in accordance with the administrative decisions in force. In our experience, the scope of those decisions does not have to remain binding until the technical end of the facility's life — it is worth reviewing it.

Related services

We also carry out professional and comprehensive geotechnical and soil contamination testing, and prepare the documentation required for monitoring programmes.

What groundwater monitoring covers

Groundwater monitoring is not a single measurement but a cycle of observations run over years. The piezometer network follows the direction of flow, always with points upgradient and downgradient of the potential source — only that arrangement can demonstrate whether a site is affecting the environment.

• monitoring network design — number and location of piezometers and screen depths,
• piezometer installation together with as-built documentation,
• cyclical water sampling using reference methodologies, through an accredited laboratory,
• determination of the parameters named in the decision — usually petroleum substances, heavy metals and physicochemical indicators,
• reporting to the authority in the required form and timeframe.

Surface water, wastewater and waste testing

Alongside groundwater we test surface water, measure the volume and composition of industrial wastewater discharged into water bodies, and characterise the waste a plant generates. Environmental noise measurements — industrial, road, rail and aircraft — complete the picture.

The scope follows from the decisions in force, but it is worth reviewing periodically. In our experience the scope of a decision need not remain binding until the technical end of a facility's life — a change of technology or production profile often removes the justification for part of the obligations.

When environmental monitoring is required

• where the obligation follows directly from an integrated permit or a water permit,
• at landfills and wastewater treatment works,
• on sites with confirmed contamination — as post-remediation monitoring confirming the durability of the result,
• at facilities storing petroleum substances, such as filling stations.

If testing shows exceedances of the permissible content of risk-causing substances, the next step is soil remediation, which we deliver together with the administrative approvals. The starting point remains soil contamination testing.