Restoration of a Former Degraded Gas Station
The world is tremendously experiencing urbanization, and this calls for ecosystem services in our urban centers. Many cities around the world are practicing the restoration of some of the formerly functional habitats (Handel et al., 2013). Most of these cities have been quite successful in their endeavors. Just like in this case, population centers that often require restoration are always small, isolated, and in an environment full of urban infrastructure. The process of making restoration goals clear and known is vital in the reclamation of these habitats. The restoration goals must focus on chemical pollutants in water, air, and substrate and urban abiotic stresses, which are inclusive of disturbed soils and local hydrology, to mention a few.
Moreover, the current biodiversity occupying the environment consists of unconventional taxonomic anatomy, which has been fostered by the elimination of animal and plant species from the former sites (Handel et al., 2013). Some of the changes that are quite noticeable in the community structures are the introduction of insects in all continents, for instance, Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat in Toronto, Canada (“Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat,” 2017). For the urban restoration programs to progress, remedies are highly essential for the biological and physical transformations. Furthermore, managing the restoration planning will require direct involvement of the government and novices in ecology, engineering, and design professionals.
Basing on the Environment Canada, there are more than 1400 degraded and isolated gas station sites across the country. Obscure to the locals, most of these sites are now being ecologically restored. In this case, the process of restoration is quite long and tedious. It is significantly essential to design the remedial landscapes, which will aid communication to the residents on the restoration activities. As proven by environmental psychologists, people are more likely to develop pro-environmental behaviors as a result of being informed prior to restoration activities (Pickett & Cadenasso, 2012).
Moreover, deploying a landscape to represent the information will motivate the locals to make decisions based on these unsustainable practices. The restoration of this gas station is not a unilateral project but will also actively involve the general public. Moreover, deploying a designed landscape will also be crucial in communicating the condition of the site. The study in the case is of a previously active gas station but has since been abandoned. The abandoned gas stations are quite rampant in Canada, and therefore, the process of restoration of this site will play a critical role in providing models for other similar sites.
In this case, an extremely degraded former gas station, which is in a dense neighborhood, is ecologically restored. The surrounding environment has moderate environmental assets and lower-income. Some of these assets include no open water and an insignificant but reachable woodlot. Besides, the gas station takes the shape of a rectangle, which occupies 0.5square hectares. It is located at a corner that is surrounded by a mall parking lot, two arterial roads, and a daycare center. This degraded former gas station is the most suitable form of restoration because of several reasons—the location at a corner within a residential neighborhood.
Moreover, a variety of land uses surround this site, which will expose the community to numerous migrating contaminants. It is a universal norm that ecological restoration is not expenses but investments. Initially, it was seen as a method of repairing small scale damages and upgrading them to landscapes. Degraded gas stations have been abandoned, which raises an urgent need to restore the soils and biodiversity into their original sites. This site is a replica of other gas stations around Canada that have been contaminated and abandoned. The reason behind choosing this site is that more than 60% of the degraded gas stations face issues of petroleum hydrocarbons, which are released from leaking fuel tanks, which pose a significant threat to the environment and locals. Therefore, the model will be a potential solution for this menace and an example to be emulated by the rest of the contaminated gas station that requires restoration in Canada.
Consultants will be actively involved in creating specifications for the removal of the pollutants without any form of questioning from the land architects as it is not their area of duty. Despite this, several treatment methods can be applied to improve contaminant restoration (“Restoring an Urban Watershed: Ecology Equity and Design,” 2014). However, these secondary methods may not be as efficient and effective as the primary sources. Still, they serve to elevate the set system and achieving the social values associated with restoration. Conversely, the suitable and notable way to remove contaminants is through either excavation or capping the site hence leaving the contaminants beneath the earth’s surface. These methods will be most preferable in this case because they will facilitate a faster process of redeveloping the site. However, these methods are mostly associated with environmental pollution, which is quite hazardous. Therefore, to avoid such repercussions that are likely to be ecologically un-friendly, natural alternatives could be applied. Natural options have been an emerging issue in ecological restoration (“Restoring an Urban Watershed: Ecology Equity and Design,” 2014). The most common being the application of phytoremediation. In this process, the pollutants which exist in the soil will be treated through planting grasses, trees, or shrubs (Restoring Urban Nature: Projects and Process, n.d.). However, this process will not be the primary method but will act as supplementary to the conventional restoration systems. The removal of these contaminants will largely depend on the plant material used in the volatilizing of these hazardous chemicals. The next and most crucial method will be to add plant materials most preferable grasses since they have more extensive root surfaces, which will significantly improve the soil’s organic layer’s biotic activities. With this, the process of breaking down the pollutants will thus be enhanced. For instance, in this case of gas stations which are most likely inclusive of petroleum hydrocarbons the most recommendable type of grass to be used will be perennial eye and alfalfa grass which will tremendously increase dissemination of a specific bacteria useful in the digestion of these hydrocarbons (Restoring Urban Nature: Projects and Process, n.d.). These plant materials will not only remove the pollutants but also add soil organisms like bacteria, which are essential in improving fertility.
The site will have to undergo restoration, which can be first done by utilizing a pump and a treatment system as the most appropriate method for remediation of the groundwater. Most of the gas stations are usually located in corner sites near neighborhoods, just like in our case (Restoring Urban Nature: Projects and Process, n.d.). Here, the gas station occupies a corner site, which most probably serves as a transition zone between community development and residential development. For instance, the public may need to consume fuel, which facilitates the maintenance and construction of gas stations. With this measure, it will be quite possible to create a direct link between the consumption of fuel by individuals and the contamination of the neighborhood. The design of this model will not be as the ones for designing lobbies and other public spaces. Still, it will involve the use of variables that are calculated using mathematical formulae, determining the most effective method of restoration and the most appropriate time pod. However, restoration of a landscape cannot be estimated as in restoring water quality and soils. Therefore, I will extensively discuss the restoration of this degraded gas station putting into consideration; ecological, planning, and design factors.
In this site, the system to be used will include two ancillary treatment mechanisms, an air stripper wand a chamber that enhances the absorption of carbon, thus aiding in the removal of the primary contaminants of the site. The pump and treat system will be solely responsible for the pumping of water from the underground water system to the earth’s surface at that site. The water will be treated on reaching the surface, hence deeming it safe to be released into the neighborhood’s wastewater system. The system will also play a significant role in effectively and efficiently, ensuring that the pollutants remain within the bounds of the site. The single pumps will be situated close to the site’s edge, where the groundwater exists. The location of the cluster of pumps will help to create a hydraulic trap, which will be quite useful in inhibiting the migration of these pollutants.
After designing this model, it is vital to consider the general public opinion. Most people are often oblivious of the threat posed to the environment by any of their actions. Through the process of restoration of the degraded gas station, the locals will be exposed to the urgency of environmental issues and hence change their hazardous practices, thus gearing the community to a whole new level free from pollution. When designing the restoration model, data obtained from environmental psychologists will be extremely crucial. The landscape architects will be expected to communicate the strategies of the restoration program of the site within the neighborhood. The first step in making sure that the public will comply with this program is to attract their attention. This is where the design considerations come in. The restoration sites must be able to attract the public’s attention and maintain it. They must be able to initiate active discussions between the observers who are the locals and the site under restoration. Therefore, the landscape architects will be obligated to provide transparent information regarding the site to the residents to ensure that it is stored and recalled in the future (Pickett & Cadenasso, 2012).
Consequently, it will help develop positive attitudes and behaviors from the public towards this site. For this reason, the design of these sites to be restored will be crucial in attracting the attention of the locals. As they will continuously be exposed to this landscape, they are likely to have a change in how they perceive this restoration program. People are more likely to get attracted to it as they experience constant repetition of the information on the restored landscape.
It is vivid that human behaviors have had a hazardous impact on the environment. Some of these actions have led to the introduction of noxious contaminants to the soil, water, and air, which have inauspicious effects on the animal and plant species. Vast compounds constitute hydrocarbons, which can be experience degradation over time. For instance, in this case, the degraded former gas station constitutes of petroleum hydrocarbons which have been released into the soil. Such conditions are likely to present long-lasting inhibitors to the remediation of animal and plant species that were previously eliminated. Even though gas stations can be restored through other techniques like bioremediation, the petroleum hydrocarbons may fail to be removed, but they can be sequestered on-site (Pickett & Cadenasso, 2012). Consequently, many sections of this landscape are eliminated from long-term ecological health.
Overall, the rapid rate of urbanization in most cities around the world, including Toronto in Canada, has rendered them subject to wide-scale degradation. This has been highly contributed to by the ever-rising number of abandoned gas stations in the country. People may fail to realize the adverse effects that may erupt from leaving these sites unattended to and unrestored. These gas stations are mostly located within urban centers, which are often associated with large human populations. Therefore, restoration of this gas station will reduce the biotic impacts associated with chemical pollution through the provision of refuges for the organisms within the soil.
Moreover, it will help to provide new habitats for these organisms, which face a potential threat at these degraded sites. Ecological restoration is geared towards the benefit of the entire biotic community and the degraded gas station. The restoration of this site will help to improve the persistence of the locals within this neighborhood.
References
Handel, S. N., Saito, O., & Takeuchi, K. (2013). Restoration Ecology in an Urbanizing World. Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities, 665–698. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7088-1_31
Humber Bay Butterfly Habitat. (2017). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ob4eAadp3o&authuser=0
Pickett, S. T. A., & Cadenasso, M. L. (2012). Urban Ecology urban ecology. Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, 11324–11343. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3_325
Restoring an Urban Watershed: Ecology Equity and Design. (2014). [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9T5PJ3_lw0
Restoring Urban Nature: Projects and Process. (n.d.). Retrieved June 4, 2020, from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=4&article=1000&context=umpress_books&type=additional