Oil Spill Blog

In the recent past, due to extensive industrialization and urbanization oil spill contamination has become a primary concern. One of the most extensive contaminations through oil spills, especially crude oil spills is soil contamination. Crude oil being a complex mixture of organic molecules contains hydrocarbons and is prone to radical chemical, physical, and biological changes and easily penetrates into the soil.

Soil contamination through an oil spill cause deleterious effects, such as health hazards due to underground water contamination, change in soil pH, inhalation of the vaporized toxins from the contaminated soil and also eco-system destruction by making the soil unfit for agriculture. Vegetation contamination and destruction of essential microorganisms in the soil lead to virtual detrimental changes in the primary food chain as well.

Research to prevent soil contamination has led to various methods of oil spill containment. Few such methods are:

• In situ Treatment Methods: Using biological means, such as oil degradation by micro-organisms or chemical-physical process such as incineration are sone of the in situ treatment methods for oil spill cleanup. The drawback with these techniques is that they work better on sandy soils than on soils that contain clay.

• In situ Bioremediation: Oxygen and nutrients are injected into the contaminated soil to enhance the indigenous bacteria to break down the hydrocarbons and convert them into a nutrient source. Oil Gone Easy Home S-200 can be the best option for oil spill containment as this oil spill cleaner makes use of the bioremediation technology in the oil spill cleanup process.

• Air sparging: Also known as venting, this process involves vaporizing of extractions of the contaminants from the soil and the ground water.

• In situ steam injection: It is basically a thermal treatment method, where steam at a very high temperature and compressed air are injected into the contaminated soil for oil spill containment.

Popularity: 41% [?]

The Clean Water Act (CWA) is a federal law that was developed in 1972 to govern water pollution. The purpose of this law was to protect the navigable waterways and shorelines from being polluted and to maintain the quality of water.

According to CWA the common sources of pollution are from oil spills. The oil could be in any form, including petroleum, fuel oil, oil refuse, sludge, and oil mixed with wastes in addition to dredged spoil. Even though discharges, include spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, or dumping, it excludes discharges that have got the permit under section 1342. An individual, corporation, partnership, association, state, municipality, commission, or political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body discharging a pollutant into the waters of the U.S.A is required to comply with the Clean Water Act.

From identifying the causes of pollution to the cleanup of polluted areas, the Clean water Act provides guidelines and financial assistance for all. Initially, only the traditional point sources of pollution, such as municipal sewage plants and industrial facilities were focused. Only later were the nonpoint sources of pollution, such as oil runoff from land, studied and researched.

Oil runoff from land is one of the major sources of water pollution. Hence, it is essential for every individual to make sure that small leaks from cars or oil spills at home or garden, does not end in polluting the waterways. Use of eco-friendly oil spill cleaner, such as Oil Gone Easy Home & Driveway S-200 for removing oil from driveway and cleaning motor oil stains can prevent the oil from reaching the waterways.

Boating is another major cause of water pollution. Bilge disposal, sewage disposal, and fuel leakage are the common causes of water pollution from boating. Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 will help you clean your bilge and protect the local marine environment.
In case of oil spills you can contact Oil Gone Easy S-200, which is on the approved list of federal onsite coordinators, authorized by Environmental Protection Agency in USA for oil spill cleanup.

Popularity: 43% [?]

You never know when you will come across an oil spill in your day to day life. Oil spills can happen just about anywhere in your home or office. Oil stains on the carpet in your office or on the kitchen slab are enough to get you worried. You could end up using ordinary oil stain removers, paper towels, or other such methods. Unfortunately, these methods don’t work well and your expensive rugs are just spoilt.

Most of us dread the tedious process of cleaning up oil spills in our garages and driveways. The labour involved in driveway oil spill cleanup with unsuitable cleaners is worse than anything. More than that, it just leaves you at the risk of being exposed to hazardous chemicals from the oil spills as well as the toxic oil stain removers. Even the children and pets at home run the risk of getting affected by the chemicals of these oil spill cleaners.

The size of an oil spill does matter. Small oil stains or oil spills are easy to manage, but unfortunately if a spill is huge paper towels or other such methods just won’t do the trick. Hence, oil spill kits are a must to protect yourself and others from the potential risk of an oil spill occurrence.

Oil spill kits may include a variety of tools, such as absorbent booms, absorbent mats, appropriate hand protection, and of course oil spill cleaners. Though, use of adsorbent booms and absorbent mats may seem like a good idea at the time, later disposing off these oil laden materials without any further harm can prove to be a problem. Hence, for cleaning up oil spills consider a handy, effective, safe, and eco friendly oil spill cleaner, such as Oil Gone Easy Home & Driveway S-200. This oil stain remover is designed to meet even the emergency needs. What’s more, it is safe on the environment as it makes use of environmentally friendly bioremediation technology. So, make this product a prime component of your oil spill kit!

Popularity: 49% [?]

Oil spills are one of the most well-known sources of contamination. They are very hazardous to the environment and to the living organisms, such as plants and animals. Oil spilled or dumped in junkyards is a very serious issue. A Junkyard is a place that is used to store junk, wrecked and abandoned automobiles, trucks, and buses. Motor oils, automobile fluids, and other solid wastes from these junks are dumped into the yard. These oil spills can carry heavy metals and other toxic wastes that are considered to have deleterious effect on nature.

During heavy rain or by surface drains, the toxic chemicals and heavy metals from junkyards seep into the soil making cleaning difficult. Oil spill cleanup procedures are not only tedious but also quite expensive. There are several oil spill cleanup procedures followed by ecologists. They include bioremediation, booms, skimmers, sorbents, chemical dispersants, biological agents, and more.

Of the lot, the most effective and greener way to cleanup the oil spill is bioremediation. A product that makes use of this technology is Oil Gone Easy S-200. It is an eco-friendly oil stain remover that can be used to not only cleanup oil spills on a large scale but also to remove tough oil stains from driveways, garages, and more. Oil Gone Easy Home & Driveway S-200 oil stain remover can be used on different surfaces, such as concrete, flag stone, asphalt, brick, pavers, cobblestone, and soil. This oil stain remover is not only easy to use but also cost effective.

Some Tips in Oil Spill Management:

• In order to prevent oil spills, outdoor storage facilities should have a permanent roof. It prevents precipitation and restricts sunlight entering the storage area.

• Always store degreasers and solvents in a tightly covered container.

• Rags contaminated with paint, solvents, grease, or oil must be sent to a recycling facility.

Popularity: 62% [?]

Ground water is the natural elixir. In the absence of rain water, ground is the only eternal source of water. Due to massive industrialization and other human activities, the ground water resources are under threat. Oil storage systems, chemical tanks, septic tanks, landfills, and crude oil spills are the potential contaminants of ground water. Both the chemical and biological pollutants percolate the ground and mix with the ground water.

Ground water contamination due to crude oil spills have been a persistent problem and less attended to. Over the past years, gallons of fuel oils and motor oil have been spilled on the land and water sources without check. Since ground water is used as potable water in many regions, contamination of it would cause serious health hazards to human beings drinking it. There is less awareness about such contamination among government and non-government agencies.

Bemidji in Minnesota is one well studied crude oil spill site with contaminated ground water. The intensity of ground water poisoning depends greatly on the rate at which the hydrocarbon components disseminate. Natural biodegradation of oil leachates is more complex at the subsurface level due to the absence of oxygen. Crude oil spills should be controlled and the oil contaminated sites should be immediately subject to remedy.

Treatment of contaminated ground water can be done. But oil spill recovery is a tedious process. Purification can be done by pumping the underground water and filtered through the several stages for removal of contaminants. Augmentation of the hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms effectively into the underground water can help in speedy recovery of oil spills.

Oil Gone Easy 200 is an eco-friendly oil spill remover that is used to clean up the oil spills from land and marine waters. This oil spill remover can be sprayed on to the oil spilled site, which provides increased access to bacterial community thus bringing biodegradation of oil spills. Oil Gone Easy is a very good product in dealing home oil spills and drive away oil spills.

Popularity: 62% [?]

Oil spills occur due to leakage from improper oil tanks, offshore drilling, or faulty pipelines. Disorganized transportation of oil is another important factor that leads to oil spills. It is important to act fast to clean up an oil spill and prevent the oil from spreading to a bigger area. When it comes to oil spill cleanup, crude oil and their derivatives are the worst. Traditional oil spill cleanup methods such as incineration, used especially for crude oil spill cleanup, are expensive and are also considered extremely harmful to the environment. So, natural methods of oil spill cleanup are always sought after.

A group of scientists from the Department of Industrial Microbiology at University College, Dublin, conducted a research on the action of certain microbes in tackling with the pollutants in an oil spill. Their research showed the exceptionally diverse nature of these microbes. While some of the constituents of oil proved to be toxic to some of the bacteria, other bacteria were capable of using the oil compounds as food ultimately breaking them down.

According to researchers, simply adding microbes to the spilled oil or the oil stain will not work. Only specific bacteria work upon the oil components to break them down into harmless compounds. Choosing the most applicable bacteria will only help in cleaning up an oil spill. Manipulation and usage of natural microbial populations is necessary to break down the contaminants and bring back the environment to its original form.

Bioremediation has proven to be natural and effective process to gradually destroy the harmful pollutants in oil spills and remove oil stains. It only calls for the use of a specific set of bacteria that will work on any contaminated site. Oil Gone Easy S-200 is one such oil spill cleaner that makes use of the bioremediation technology effectively and cleans not just soil and marine oil spills, but also oil stains from any surface at home.

Popularity: 90% [?]

In-situ oil burning is an effective response for oil spill cleanup on the spot. Oil spill cleanup can be accomplished with comparatively lesser manpower and low cost. Though in-situ burning of oil is effectual in oil spill cleanup, this method poses a serious threat to the environment as well as human beings.

In-situ oil burning is also done on water, but it depends greatly on the thickness of the slick, water temperature, wind speed and direction, oil type, and wave amplitude. After in-situ oil burning the residues tend to sink deep into the water system thus paving the way for toxic build up in the water body. Hence, this method doesn’t hold good for cleaning up oil spills in water.

Oil spill removal through in-situ oil burning greatly affects the people in the neighbourhood areas, the soil, the plantations, and the wildlife within the proximity of the oil spill. In-situ oil burning sometimes results in the seepage of oil further deep into the soil and shoreline sediments. It releases particulate pollutants, such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), carbon monoxide, and other toxic gases directly into the atmosphere rendering the air unfavourable for breathing. The response personnel are also at risk due to the intense heat sources used in in-situ burning. So care should be taken while employing in-situ oil burning. Pollution detection equipments to monitor the particulate pollutant levels in the air should be utilized.

The above mentioned considerations have to be made in using in situ oil burning as the cleanup strategy. Taking into consideration all the drawbacks of in-situ burning, use of eco-friendly oil cleaners, such as Oil Gone Easy S-200 would be ideal for efficient oil spill containment. As opposed to in-situ burning, this oil spill cleanup procedure is extremely safe as it biodegrades the hydrocarbons present in the oil using the microbes present in the environment.

Popularity: 95% [?]

Fuel oils spills in residential areas can be classified into two types: small oil spills and large oil spills. Small oil spills are usually caused due to leakage in oil tanks or pipes. Large oil spills occur while filling storage oil tanks, due overturning of tanks, or when a basement oil tank overfills. Small scale oil spill cleanup can be done by us. But for large scale oil spills we would definitely need a professional help.

There are some basic oil spill cleanup methods that should be followed by everyone.

• Even small oil spills need to be responded immediately. If left as it is, the spilled oil will seep into cracks and will be very difficult to clean. If the spill is saturated on a concrete or wooden surface, then the only way to clean up the place would be demolition of the place. To avoid this problem, you can try Oil Gone Easy S-200. It is an oil stain remover that removes oil stains from any surface that include concrete, flag stone, brick, pavers, and soil.

• In case of oil spills in your house, first thing to be done is to turn off flame and spark sources. Attempt to clean up the spilled oil by vacuum cleaner should also be avoided.

For small oil spills

• Prevent unnecessary exposure to oil by the use of rubber gloves and shoes. Proper ventilation is also very important to avoid any accidents.

• Use absorbent material over the spill. Dispose the oil spill absorbent carefully in a heavy-duty plastic bag. Use of soap and hot water is recommended to clean up oil on hard surfaces and appliances. Repeat the cleaning if necessary.

For large oil spills

• Report the spill immediately to an oil delivery company or to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). It is important to inform the fire department for them to check for any explosion hazard. Call a professional clean up service.

• Fuel oil has many toxic substances that cause headaches, nausea, dizziness, and also causes serious health problems in extreme cases.

In any case of oil spill, care should be taken to avoid harmful chemicals which affect the environment as well as animals. Use environmentally friendly products, such as Oil Gone Easy for oil spill cleanup methods.

Popularity: 98% [?]

Water pollution is the contamination or adulteration of the water bodies, such as rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and ground water by number of human activities. Since water is essential for all our basic needs, water pollution is a threat to us. Many communicable diseases spread through unclean water, which even results in death.

Although there are different factors that contribute to water pollution, listed below are the most dangerous causes of water pollution.

• Factories and nuclear plants play a major role in polluting the water. Wastes from factories include toxins, such as lead, mercury, and other contaminants. These chemicals are very harmful and can lead to serious health hazards.

• Nonpoint sources are one of the major causes of water pollution. Oil spills from cars, trucks, and other vehicles on land get mixed with rainwater and runoff into streams and lakes polluting them. These nonpoint sources are very difficult to monitor and control, so it falls on each individual to make sure that their vehicles used does not in any way contribute to further pollution. Proper maintenance of vehicles and oil spill cleanup using eco-friendly products, such as Oil Gone Easy S-200 will help to a great extent.

• Fertilizers and pesticides used in agricultural farms, homeowners lawns, and roadsides are a threat to the natural water source. When runoff into local streams or rivers or when drained down into groundwater, they contaminate the water completely.

• Mining is another major reason for water pollution. Heavy metals and sulfur components which are buried in the earth are exposed during mining and during rainfall these toxic chemicals are exposed, which ultimately result in “acid rain drainage”

• Surprising though it may seem, air pollution is also a cause of water pollution. Pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, nitric acid, and mercury, when deposited out of air results in nutrient pollution and acidification of lakes.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from the Land-based Activities (GPA) is an intergovernmental program that addresses linkages between water sheds and coastal environment. GPA is designed to provide practical guidance to national and regional authorities and help devise and implement actions to prevent, reduce, control, and eliminate marine degradation caused by land-based activities.

GPA was adopted by 109 governments in the year 1995. The European commission adopted the GPA and declared their commitment to protect and preserve the marine environment from harmful land-based activities.

Coastal waters and deep oceans are being polluted by contaminants like heavy metals, nuclear wastes, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals due to marine oil spills. Agricultural and industrial waste runoffs are also major sources of marine water pollution.

A global level action plan is required to clean up marine oil spills and prevent further accidents. GPA is being used as a valuable tool to increase the resilience of marine and coastal environment to changes in climate.

This action program also provides a comprehensive, multi-sectoral, and flexible approach to oil spill cleanups. GPA is proving to be an effective tool to stop devastation to marine life by oil spills and discharges. Oil spill cleanup is very essential to stop the destruction of marine life and in turn boost the fishing and tourism industry.

Bio degradable eco-friendly products should be used to clean up marine oil spills. Oil spill cleanup can be done using Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200, which is an oil eating liquid. This biodegradable product has been accredited by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 has natural occurring microorganisms, which splits up hydrocarbons in oil into harmless compounds. This product is non irritating, non toxic, and non inflammable, which makes it very safe for use. Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 can also be applied on rubber, metal, wood or fiberglass without any damage.

Popularity: 97% [?]