Bulldozer 



Dragline 



Dump truck 



The effectiveness of these items of equipment depends on the type of 

 beach involved. In the Tomano spill, barges were used to haul the spoil 

 away and clam shell buckets were used to load the material onto the 

 barge. Details of characteristics and optimum use of the equipment, 

 singly or in combinations, are discussed in the section ''Mechanical 

 Equipment for Removal of Contaminated Material.'' 



Sand Cleaning On- Site . Sand can be cleaned on-site by depositing 

 sand into sumps dug near the beach. Sand will sink into the bottom and 

 the oil will float to the surface and can be skimmed off. Such process 

 requires much manpower and time, A sand cleaning device has been deve- 

 loped [17] but its practical usefulness has not been evaluated. 



Biodegradation. Oil is subjected to biological degradation by 

 natural bacterial action which is rather slow. Its rate can be accelerated 

 by introducing bacteria known to attack petroleum. Such a method, however, 

 is still in laboratory study stage. 



Disposal of Contaminated Material 



The normal method of disposing of removed contaminated beach 

 material has been to transfer the material to a suitable landfill site. 

 Commercial sites have been used, and sites have been created. Sites 

 are typically selected where drainage of oil from the site is not a 

 problem. Sites generally require approval by the local control agency 

 responsible for such procedures. In California, e.g., the local control 

 agency is the Regional Water Quality Control Board. 



An alternative method of disposal of oily sand and gravel has been 

 to use them as construction (such as surface paving) materials. Temporary 

 dump sites have been used for intermediate storage of the removed mate- 

 rials. Polyethylene lining has been recommended to prevent contamination 

 of ground water. 



Mechanical Equipment for Removal of Contaminated Material 



Virtually all types of mechanical euqipment have been tried in 

 beach cleanup operations. Some are totally unsatisfactory, and none is 

 optimum for all situations. In this section, a number of equipment 

 items considered satisfactory for the more common beach cleanup 

 operations are described. 



13 



