A three-day workshop which seeks to explore the potential of risk-based assessment and remediation of contaminated soils and ground water in Oman began at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) on Monday.
Titled, ‘The application of sustainable risk-based approaches for assessment and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater’, the workshop was organised by SQU’s Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the College of Engineering, stated a press release. The opening ceremony was held under the patronage of Najib Ali al Rawas, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs.
Around 60 international and local experts including researchers, policymakers, regulators and oil and gas operators are participating in the workshop. Dr Mahad Baawain, associate professor, SQU said that risk-based and sustainable techniques for remediation of contaminated soils and groundwater is crucial for Oman.
“The oil industry has played a significant role in the industrial and economic development of the country. At the same time, adequate measures should be taken to minimise the impact of oil and gas operations in the environment and to achieve sustainable development.
“One of the environmental challenges facing the oil and chemical industry is to identify and assess the potential risk to human health and environment from the contaminated sites as a result of inadequate waste management practices. “A risk-based approach needs to be adopted in order to devise an effective strategy to mitigate the potential risk to human health, and environment presented by the contaminated sites,” he said.
Dr Baawain added that risk-based approaches have been applied successfully in many European, North American and East Asian countries and have proved to be highly efficient and economical in saving the environment and people’s health. In Oman, SQU has taken up some projects utilising this technology along with major oil companies like Shell and PDO.”
Source: Muscat Daily
