ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT - ESA (Assessment, Soil Test, Ground Water Test, Contamination Clean-Up)
Environmental Site Assessment Phase 1, 2 & 3 in Ontario including  City of Toronto, Durham Region, Halton Region, Peel Region and York Region (Ajax, Aurora, Bolton, Brampton, Burlington, Etobicoke, Maple, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, North York, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Stouffville, Toronto, Vaughan, Uxbridge, Whitby, Barrie, Burlington, Bowmanville, Cambridge, Hamilton, Georgetown, Guelph, Kitchener, Kingston, London, Peterborough, Sarnia, Stoneycreek, St Catharines,  Waterloo, Windsor and Woodbridge).
When it comes to dealing with environmental contamination it is better to be pro-active. Remember even if your site is found to be contaminated, you are the client, and we are under no legal obligation to report their findings to any government body, unless it is believed that the contamination seriously endangers the safety or welfare of the public.
Accidental spills and careless waste disposal practices can result in soil and ground water contamination. Spills are common and can occur just about anywhere and anytime. About 10,000 spills are reported each year in Canada, amounting to thousands of tonnes of fuels and other chemicals. Officials estimate that the total number of unreported spills could be as high as 40,000. Fuel products comprise about two-thirds of the reported spills. Chemicals spilled many years ago can linger in the soil and still be a problem today. Site contamination is a complex problem that seldom goes away by itself and can persist for decades. The contamination may not be confined to the site itself, because contaminants often spread far beyond their original source. Toxic substances can seep through the soil to the groundwater, which then becomes unfit for drinking. Natural groundwater flow can spread the contaminants over a wide area. As a result, soil and ground water contaminations are often found in properties near past or present industrial sites, such as refineries, steel plants, mines, scrap yards and chemical plants. Chemical discharges can also be associated with smaller-scale operations such as dry cleaning outlets, electrical contractors, print shops, waste processors and industrial waste disposal sites.
Leakage of petroleum or other products from underground storage tanks is another common cause of soil and ground water contamination. Contaminated sites are very often found near operating gas stations, former gas stations and at other locations where fuels have been stored in underground storage tanks. From 7,500 to 20,000 underground storage tanks across Canada are thought to be leaking. As time passes, more of the older tanks will begin to leak due to problems such as corrosion. There are at least 10,000 landfill sites across Canada. Contaminants may be seeping out of many of these landfill sites.The health and safety of people who live or work at or very near a contaminated site are directly at risk. The local natural environment is also at risk.  The immediate concern is the potential cleanup cost. Individuals and corporations are, with increasing frequency, being charged and convicted of offences associated with contaminated sites, although they may not have been directly responsible for the contamination. Such court cases are very expensive.
The costs associated with contaminated property  can be significant, and may have to be borne entirely or in part by past or present property owners, investors, lenders or even commercial tenants. A lender should not acquire title to mortgaged property unless satisfied that there are no indications of contamination on the property. The lender should also ensure that any business conducted on the property does not carry with it an unmanaged risk of contamination.  A lending organization or individual who takes possession of a contaminated site, due to foreclosure of a mortgage or for any other reason may find that the property is worth very little. They may even find that the costs of a cleanup exceed the property’s value. A buyer who borrows money to purchase a property that turns out to be contaminated may subsequently be prosecuted for environmental offences and face fines and legal and cleanup costs. These expenses may reduce his or her ability to repay the loan. If lenders then have to take possession of the contaminated property, they may be prosecuted or become liable for the debtor’s environmental problems, including clean up costs. If contamination is found at a site, authorities could order anyone who has any control of the property or business to clean it up, whether or not they caused the contamination. Anyone who has ever owned or occupied that property may be ordered to participate in the cleanup. Creditors who were previously in possession of a contaminated property, for no matter how short a time, may also be required to cover some or all of the cleanup costs. Compliance with such orders can be extremely expensive. Property owners and occupants affected by nearby contaminated sites may sue those responsible, or sue current owners who may not even have caused the contamination.
There is currently no legal requirement in Ontario to conduct environmental site assessments. However, organizations and individuals who provide mortgages, guarantee mortgages or invest in real estate should note that there are very compelling reasons to insist on an Environmental Site Assessment before committing themselves to a transaction. Commercial lending institutions, and those who own, manage or invest in real estate know that it is essential to be concerned about the environmental status of properties with which they are associated. More and more organizations are requiring environmental site assessments as a condition for real estate transactions. The best time to determine if an environmental contamination is present, is before you buy. After you own the property it becomes your responsibility. Ultimately, Environmntal Site Assessments may become universally accepted as an essential component of responsible asset management.
Environmental Site Assessments are very valuable to identify potential environmental concerns at a property. These assessments, by their nature, are limited and it is crucial that all of the parties involved understand these limitations. An Environmental Site Assessment ESA by experienced environmental site assessor should reveal the potential for significant environmental issues at a site even if it is performed in a tight time frame. We use only senior qualified and experienced assessors to conduct the environmental site assessments. To ensure the important issues are not overlooked and that uncertainties associated with the assessment are reduced, Environmental Site Assessments are performed to the Ministry of Environment guidelines, by experienced environmental site assessors. Even the most thorough Environmental Site Assessments may not be able to confirm unequivocally that a site is not contaminated, or guarantee that a site will not become contaminated in the future. An Environmental Site Assessment can only determine that no indicators of contamination are found at the time of the investigation.  Commercial and industrial real estate lenders scrutinize every aspect of a deal to make sure it is a  good one. Environmental Site Assessment on commercial and industrial real estate deals is more important than ever. When a commercial or industrial property is purchased or sold, the responsibility for cleanup and containment of contamination is passed to the new owner. For this reason it is vital that any environmental liability be identified before a commercial or industrial property is purchased or sold. Identifying areas of "Environmental Concern" is imperative to prepurchase evaluation and assessment.  When it comes to commercial real estate,  one of the most-common issues that impairs the deals is environmental contamination. Both buyers and sellers need to know that Environmental laws hold owners responsible for cleaning up contamination, regardless of who created or contributed to the problem.  If a buyer misses contamination and it is found later, the buyer will be liable for the cleanup.  Recent environmental site assessment of the property can actually make potential buyers more comfortable. The discovery of contamination problems after the sale can lead the new owners to take up a legal battle—at significant cost to everyone—to force the sellers to pay for the cleanup. Legally, the seller can still be liable for cleanup even after seller no longer own or operate at the site. So developing a comprehensive understanding of the environmental conditions at the property is the best way to ensure a successful property transfer!
Ignorance at the time of purchase and sale is no excuse. By conducting thorough environmental site assessment early in the deal, everybody involved in the deal can learn about potential problems upfront and they have time to address any issues before closing.
CLARIFYING CONTAMINATION - Phase 1 - Environmental Site Assessment - ESA
A variety of actions can cause a Phase I study to be performed for a commercial property, the most common being:
   * Purchase of the property by a person or entity not previously on title
   * Contemplation by a new lender to provide a loan on the subject property
   * Partnership buyout or principal redistribution of ownership.
   * Application to a public agency for change of use or other discretionary land use permit
   * Existing property owner’s desire to understand toxic history of the property.
   * Compulsion by a regulatory agency who suspects toxic conditions on the site.
   * Divestiture of properties
A phase 1 environmental site assessment is an absolute necessity when purchasing commercial property these days. A phase 1 is the fact phase of an environmental assessment. Basically, the whole purpose of the phase 1 is to determine whether or not there is any evidence that may suggest that the site is contaminated or may become contaminated.
The best time to determine if an environmental contamination is present, is before you buy. After you own the property it becomes your responsibility.
A thorough rigorous environmental analysis of the property and all surrounding uses or conditions, which may carry the risk of contamination or liability and issues arise from past use of chemical, oil tanks, asbestos and other hazards. Environmental site assessments ESA have been performed on a range of property types,  including gas stations, medium sized industrial operations and multi-tenant commercial plazas. We focus our phase one environmental site assessment  on the unique circumstances, conditions and risks inherent in each property type and develop an efficient strategy for acquiring specialized information unique to the property.
As described by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), in Standard CAN/CSA-Z768-01, a phase 1 environmental site assessment (ESA) is a systematic process by which an assessor seeks to determine whether a particular property is subject to actual or potential contamination. The scope of the phase 1 environmental site assessment will consist of the following four principal components of the CSA Standard:
Search, review and analyze of historical property use
A very detailed and labor intensive search, review and analyze of historical property use, occupancy records and aerial photographs of the subject and adjacent properties. Geology, Hydrology, Topography are analyzed to determine type of the soil, depth of water table, direction and flow of ground water and other physical attributes to determine the potential of any environmental hazard migrating to or from the subject property.
Visual assessment of the site and surrounding properties
Visual assessment of the site and surrounding properties including Identification of any liquid or chemical storage, PCBs, ACM, Lead and other designated substances, spills or soil and building contamination and identification of surrounding land use in order to identify possible impacts to the subject site. Physical obstructions can have a large impact on the results of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, since no intrusive sampling is done during the assessment
Interview with persons having knowledge of past and present site activities.
Sometimes information provided by individuals about the previous usage of the site and/or adjacent sites may somewhat misleading and may lead to certain assumptions being made regarding the potential environmental risks associated with the property by the parties involved in the transaction. Informations from interviews of individuals must be corroborated whenever possible.
Evaluation of Information and Reporting

Phase 1 environmental site assessment ESA in Ontario including City of Toronto, Durham Region, Halton Region, Peel Region and York Region  (Ajax, Aurora, Bolton, Brampton, Burlington, Etobicoke, Maple, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, North York, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Stouffville, Toronto, Vaughan, Uxbridge, Whitby, Barrie, Burlington, Bowmanville, Cambridge, Hamilton, Georgetown, Guelph, Kitchener, Kingston, London, Milton, Peterborough, Sarnia, Stoneycreek, St Catharines,  Waterloo, Windsor and Woodbridge) can be arranged within six to eight business days.
Phase 1 environmental site assessment ESA reports are ready within 5 business days after completion of phase 1 environmental site assessment ESA. We specialize in locating and analyzing missing or previously undiscovered documentary evidence as well as our successful record of thorough assessment and reporting of the entire phase 1 environmental site assessment ESA process are what set us apart from other providers. The consequences of completing an inadequate Environmental Site Assessment can far outweigh the cost of a thorough Phase I Environmental Site Assessment.
Cost of Phase 1 Environmental Assessment is $2,490

SEEKING THE SOURCE - Phase 2 - Environmental Site Assessment - ESA
Many financial lenders and banks specify a Environmental Phase I Asseesment prior to purchase of a commercial property. Environmental Phase I Assessments do not test soil or ground water and contamination issues are often overlooked. A gasoline station or a dry cleaners can severely impact a property 500 meters away.
Many buyers or sellers of a large property try to limit their costs by drilling few boreholes which may result in few soil samples and limited groundwater assessment. This is prone to error and often misses many potential contamination problems. Generally, a phase 2 environmental site assessment is required by a lending institution (bank) when potential contamination has been identified on a high-risk property such as gas stations(Petro Canada, Esso, Shell, Ultramar, Husky, Olco, Pioneer), dry cleaners etc, requiring financing.
The potential contamination is often identified through an initial phase 1 environmental site assessment.  As described by the Canadian Standards Association CSA Standard CAN/CSA-Z769-00 a phase 2 environmental site assessment ESA involves sampling and testing of soil and ground water etc., considered by the outcome of a phase 1 environmental site assessment ESA or other investigation to be possible instances of environmental contamination. The cost, scope and duration of a phase 2 environmental site assessment ESA are dependent on many factors such as the size and location of the site, the number and type of suspected, contaminants, the type of material to be sampled such as soil, groundwater, etc., the methods used for sample collection and the time required to obtain laboratory results. The most frequent substances tested are Petroleum Hydrocarbons in four fractions F1-F4, heavy metals, Volatile Organic Compounds VOC, Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons - PAH, Polychlorinated Biphenyl’s PCBs pesticides and solvents. Representative soil & water samples are mostly obtained from boreholes and monitoring wells. The boreholes placements are selected by an initial rationale as being the most likely locations of contaminations.
Prior to any sub-surface investigation, the locations of underground utilities and services are investigated and confirmed to avoid potential disruption to the utilities during the sub-surface investigation. Sub-surface soil and ground water sampling and testing are completed in accordance with the requirements of phase 2 environmental site assessment ESA standard CAN/CSA-Z769-00. Proper chain of custody procedures are assured for the recovered soil and ground water samples.
Constituents of concern are identified, sampled, analyzed and the laboratory results are compared to the applicable Ontario Ministry of Environment Standards. If the phase two environmental site assessment identifies adverse environmental impact in excess of the applicable Ontario Ministry of Environment Guidelines, additional assessment and/or remedial work may be required. A phase 2 environmental site assessment ESA is an investigation to confirm the presence or absence of contamination on a property. If contamination is identified, the phase 2 environmental site assessment ESA findings are used to develop options for dealing with the contamination including removing the contamination from the soil and/or ground water, managing the contamination  in-place and or monitoring soil and groundwater conditions to ensure the contamination doesn’t worsen. A phase 2 environmental site assessment costs more and the turnaround time is  much longer than the phase 1 encvironmental site assessment.
The turnaround time for a typical phase two environmental site assessment ESA in Ontario including City of Toronto, Durham Region, Halton Region, Peel Region and York Region ((Ajax, Aurora, Bolton, Brampton, Burlington, Etobicoke, Maple, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, North York, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Stouffville, Toronto, Vaughan, Uxbridge, Whitby, Barrie, Burlington, Bowmanville, Cambridge, Hamiton, Georgetown, Guelph, Kitchener, Kingston, London, Milton, Peterborough, Sarnia, Stoneycreek, St Catharines, Waterloo, Windsor and Woodbridge) is about 2 to 4 weeks.
Cost of Combination of a Phase 1 & a Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment is $9,440

Geotechnical Engineering Evaluation
A Geotechnical Engineering Evaluation will evaluate the subsurface soil conditions at the proposed development to provide appropriate recommendations for site preparation, foundation design, drainage and other design and earthwork construction considerations. We will provide a Geotechnical Engineering Report summarizing site observations of subsoil and groundwater conditions, field and laboratory testing, with our comments and recommendations regarding the foundation conditions, T-time for septic area subsoils, backfilling, slab-on-grade construction, asphalt pavement design, etc. The turnaround time for a typical Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment and Geotechnical Engineering Evaluation is about 3 to 4 weeks. Our cost of carrying out the Phase 1 & Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment work and Geo Technical Engineering Evaluation is as follows:
Phase 1 & 2 Environmental Site Assessment and Geotechnical Engineering Evaluation
Up to 7 Boreholes $11, 440.^{00+ HST}