C3 Environmental Limited services

Subsurface impacts in soil and groundwater often transgress property boundaries and require strategic excavations within or beyond property lines. In urban areas, these excavations are often located adjacent to or beneath the existing structures. Therefore, the risks associated with such excavations can be mitigated using excavation support systems to preserve the integrity of the structures. On sites where containment or in situ treatment may not be an option, C3 Environmental can provide conventional soil remediation services. We specialize in projects involving Deep and/or Complex Excavation projects and can provide complete turnkey packages including engineering design, construction supervision, health & safety management, and QA/QC.

The concept of driving steel sheet piling and sealing joints between adjacent piles was thus introduced. After a series of successful experimental cells, the potential utilization of Waterloo Barrier® in real site conditions was confirmed with approximately one year of prototype field testing. UW and Samuel Roll Form Group then collaborated to develop sheet piling in which a sealable cavity was incorporated into the pile interlock in the manufacturing process. A roll-formed shape was produced and made available for field trials in 1991. Extensive field scale tests were conducted by UW, and bulk hydraulic conductivity values of less than 10^-8 cm/sec were achieved. Installations of a commercial nature are currently in service.

Low permeability containment walls are increasingly being applied in the control and remediation of groundwater pollution. Conventional technologies such as slurry walls and geomembranes do not necessarily provide cost-effective and efficient subsurface containment in all settings. Groundwater researchers at UW considered this in their construction of containment cells for field experiments involving contaminated groundwater.

The ISCO technology is an in-situ process utilizing the injection of proprietary liquid chemical formulations through monitoring wells into the contaminated portion of an aquifer.

Waterloo Barrier sheet piles are installed using the same equipment and techniques as conventional products. Vibratory equipment is suitable for most soil conditions although better results may be achieved with impact equipment in certain cohesive soils.

Potential leak paths through the Barrier are limited to the sealed joints. Therefore, the joints are the focus of the quality control procedures. Joints are inspected before the sealing operation to confirm that the complete length of the cavity is open and can be sealed. Video inspection equipment can be lowered into each clean cavity to provide a permanent visual record. Each joint is sealed from bottom to top facilitating the emplacement of sealant into the entire length of the joint. Proven procedures can be initiated to clear identified blockages within the interlocks prior to the sealing process. C3 provides trained inspectors to perform the quality assurance and control during the sheet pile installation and interlock sealing phases. The Quality Assurance and Control program is rigorous and unique to the Waterloo Barrier® and is an integral part of our certification of the system.

Entombment is a popular application of the Waterloo Barrier® system. The sheet piles are installed in an enclosed cell around an area of contamination. The contaminants are entombed in place, preventing impacted groundwater and soil from migrating outside the confined area. At various sites, the Waterloo Barrier® sheet piles have been used as a highly effective waterproofing solution for the foundation of a new building.