Cleaning up a 1.38 ha site in Duntes Street, Riga

Name: VentEko JSC
Address: Rīgas iela 22, Piņķi, LV-2107, LV
Telephone: +371 26 559 949

Cleaning and returning a 1.38‑hectare area to productive use in Duntes Street, Riga

Project structure

Challenge

When purchasing the 1.38 ha property, the buyer was unaware that it contained approximately 28,900 m³ of soil contaminated with heavy metals, with polluted groundwater migrating toward the Sarkandaugava Canal at the site boundary. A sustainable solution had to be identified quickly to enable project development while reducing environmental risks.
Solution

To stop the migration of heavy‑metal‑contaminated groundwater into the Sarkandaugava Canal and enable its treatment within an approximately 28,900 m³ soil mass, a permeable reactive barrier was constructed along the canal shoreline — 180 m long, 8.5 m deep, and 0.9–1 m wide.
Result

The innovative in‑situ remediation approach enabled 1.38 ha of land to be returned to productive use, avoiding the need to excavate and relocate contaminated soil as required in ex‑situ methods. This sustainable solution significantly reduced costs and prevented at least 324,000 kg of CO₂ emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Publication: Delfi (in Latvian)