Bio:
Kate Ketis is a Qualified Person for Risk Assessment with 18 years of experience in environmental consulting. Ms. Ketis’ experience encompasses a variety of environmental disciplines including human and ecological risk assessment, risk management plans, biomonitoring/baseline studies, hydrostatic testing, phytoremediation and project management. Ms. Ketis has contributed to many environmental risk assessments in multiple provincial jurisdictions including Ontario (under O.Reg. 153/04), Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories as well as contaminated sites under federal jurisdiction. Ms. Ketis has also contributed to several community-based and due diligence risk assessments including the development of site-specific target levels to guide remedial actions, and soil vapour assessments. Ms. Ketis has worked on the design, implementation, and annual monitoring of multiple phytoremediation systems in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Abstract:
Within environmental consulting there are many areas of expertise which address contaminated sites – from assessment to remediation, as well as differing regulatory frameworks depending on the type of site. This presentation will showcase a complex project at a petrochemical site which utilized the expertise of phytoremediation specialists, environmental site assessors and risk assessors within the environmental consulting industry, as well as requiring collaboration with multiple disciplines within the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). Instead of a traditional soil excavation and disposal program to address soil and groundwater contamination, phytoremediation and environmental risk assessment were implemented to satisfy the requirements for closure of landfarms under an Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA). The presentation will provide an overview of the decade-long project, starting with the characterization of former landfarms contaminated with residual petroleum hydrocarbons and the selection of phytoremediation as a suitable closure plan. It will describe the implementation of the phytoremediation program, followed by the preparation of a risk assessment to evaluate potential risk to human and ecological receptors from residual contaminant concentrations in the soil and groundwater. Now that the risk assessment has been accepted, the continuing work at this site will be described.