Environmental liability investigation and management
Assessment of land, industrial sites and assets before purchase, sale, financing or compliance work: what is in the soil and groundwater, and what it changes in the decision.
- On record
- 44 ARTs for environmental liability investigations
- Stages
- Preliminary assessment · confirmatory investigation
- Media
- Soil · groundwater
ARTs (technical responsibility records) filed with CREA-MG in the name of the responsible engineer, 2009–2026.
The problem
The liability is bought with the property.
A former industrial use, a buried tank, old fill, a repair shop next door: soil and groundwater contamination does not show on the title deed. Found after signing, it becomes remediation cost, use restrictions and a stopped construction site, at the buyer's expense.
There is also the regulatory liability: an expired permit, an unmet permit condition, clearing without authorization, an irregular water-use grant. These are different kinds of risk and call for different readings. We separate the two and say what each one means for the deal.
Who it is for
- Developers and builders with a site under review
- Industrial companies selling, decommissioning or regularizing a facility
- Funds and investors acquiring industrial and logistics assets
- Projects whose financing requires an environmental assessment of the site
Below the surface
To investigate is to form hypotheses and test them.
A schematic cross-section of a site, in the order the investigation moves: from what can be seen to what has to be measured.
Surface
What can be seen today: current use, buildings, paving, neighbors.
History
What the site used to be: former uses, from records and historical imagery.
Potential sources
Where something may have happened: tank, workshop, storage. This is the preliminary assessment, with no intrusive work.
Conceptual model
The hypothesis: source, pathway through soil and groundwater, and who could be reached.
Investigation points
Boreholes and wells placed to test the hypothesis, upgradient and downgradient.
Results
Soil and water reports compared against the guideline values.
Updated model
The hypothesis confirmed, ruled out or to be detailed: this is what supports the decision.
Conceptual modelSchematic cross-section for demonstration, with no data from a real site. The hatched zone is a hypothesis to be tested, not confirmed contamination: only laboratory results confirm or rule it out.
Evidence
Where we act at each stage, and what backs it.
The stages follow the sequence of contaminated-site management. Desk work and site visits are carried out by H·MARIZ. Drilling and laboratory analysis are contracted for the case and coordinated by us.
Stages of an environmental liability investigation
01
Preliminary assessment
Land-use history, documents, historical imagery, site visit and interviews. No intrusive work on the site.
Carried out directly
ART on record · H·MARIZ delivery in 2026
02
Confirmatory investigation
Soil and groundwater sampling at the points indicated by the conceptual site model; comparison with guideline values.
Drilling and laboratory coordinated
ART on record, including groundwater
03
Following stages
Detailed investigation, risk assessment and intervention plan, when contamination is confirmed.
Strategy and specialist coordination
Route definition and coordination of specialist firms
04
Rehabilitation for use
Strategy with the environmental agency until the site can be used for its intended purpose.
Strategy and specialist coordination
ART concluding that a site was rehabilitated for its declared use
- Technical product
- Preliminary environmental liability assessment report
- Nature
- Desk-based and cartographic screening, with no drilling
- Application
- Land intended for a residential development
- Method and data
- Property history and documents; relief, hydrography and sub-catchments in GIS; source–pathway–receptor conceptual model
- Result delivered
- Matrix of potential off-site sources and a technical conclusion on whether a confirmatory investigation is needed
- Origin
- Work delivered by H·MARIZ in 2026, with an ART
- Anonymization
- The client, the address, the neighbors and the conclusion are not disclosed
Columns of the potential-source matrix
- Potential source
- Distance to the site
- Activity
- Contaminants of concern
- Evidence observed
- Topographic barrier
- Hydraulic connectivity
- Residual risk
Scope and deliverables
From preliminary assessment to the decision on the asset.
Scope grows only if the findings call for it: the preliminary assessment decides whether a confirmatory investigation is needed.
Preliminary assessment
Historical and documentary review, site visit and interviews, following Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 15515.
Deliverable
Report with the areas of potential contamination and the initial conceptual site model.
Reading the surroundings
Potential neighboring sources, relief, drainage and the likely direction of flow.
Deliverable
Potential-source matrix: distance, activity, contaminants of concern and connectivity.
Confirmatory investigation
Sampling plan, drilling and analysis by an accredited laboratory, contracted for the case and coordinated by H·MARIZ.
Deliverable
Report with soil and groundwater results and a conclusion on whether contamination exists.
When contamination is confirmed
Definition of the following stages and coordination of the firms specialized in detailed investigation, risk assessment and intervention.
Deliverable
Action plan, with stages, owners and dialogue with the environmental agency.
Regulatory liabilities
The asset's permits, permit conditions, water-use grants, notices of violation and pending obligations.
Deliverable
Schedule of pending items, with severity and the route to compliance.
Environmental due diligence
An integrated reading for transactions: contamination, regulatory gaps and land-use constraints.
Deliverable
Decision report: what blocks the deal, what requires a condition and what only needs follow-up.
How the work is organized
How a site is investigated.
01
Understand
The deal at stake, the intended use and what is known of the property's history.
02
Structure
Conceptual site model: where a source may be, how a contaminant would travel and whom it would reach.
03
Deliver
Preliminary assessment and, if indicated, a confirmatory investigation with drilling and laboratory analysis.
04
Manage
The finding turned into a decision: proceed, negotiate, investigate further or bring into compliance.
Proven experience
Liabilities assessed before signing.
- ART · engineer of record
44 ARTs for environmental liability investigations: preliminary assessments and confirmatory investigations, including groundwater, on real estate, industrial and logistics sites.
- ART · engineer of record
In one of them, the technical conclusion was that the site had been rehabilitated for its declared use.
- H·MARIZ · 2026
Preliminary assessment of land intended for a residential development, delivered in 2026, with a cartographic reading of relief, hydrography and sub-catchments.
Experience from 2009 to 2023 belongs to the responsible engineer and is recorded in ARTs (technical responsibility records) filed with CREA-MG; the 2026 work was contracted by H·MARIZ. Clients are not named. The list of ARTs is available on request.
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Contact
Is there a site under review or an asset about to change hands?
Before committing capital, it is worth understanding what comes with the land.
Henrique Marizhenrique@hmariz.comWhatsApp (31) 99791-8003Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais