This master thesis encompasses an inventory of the older industrial community of Gimo.
Investigations of the contamination situation for each industrial area were done. A risk
classification according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s “Method of
Surveying Contaminated Sites”, phase one, followed. The risk classification was done on
areas of Iron Work, a rockwool industry and a landfill.
Gimo have had iron manufacturing from 1615 until 1945. Gimo have had two blast-furnaces
and two smithies periodically. The youngest smithy was placed close to the big dam of Gimo
and the blast-furnace stood where Sandvik Coromant has its car park today. The two areas
have been risk classified as one unit. In order to investigate the status of contamination at the site a minor field survey was done. Samples of residues, waste, from the blast-furnace and the clay, underneath the waste layer, were sent for analysis of their metal content. The blastfurnace waste had very low content of arsenic, cadmium, chrome, cobalt, cupper, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium and zinc. The amount of arsenic in the clay was moderate. Leaching tests were done on the blast-furnace residues and a very small amount of hazardous metals were leached out. These areas were classified in risk class 3, moderate risk for human health and the environment. No further surveys are therefore necessary.
Rockwool was based in Gimo during the years 1954-1991. Presumably the industrial area
contains phenols, formaldehyde, and solution of formaldehyde and ammonia and fuel oil from
an oil discharge in 1979. A remediation of the site was done to moderate levels of fuel oil in the soil at the time of the factory closure. This oil discharge might have caused very serious levels of oil in the sediments of a river situated downstream. This industrial area has been given a risk class 2, large risk for human health and the environment. Further investigations at the site are necessary, especially before future constructions.
Rockwools largest landfill is situated in the northern shore of Gimo dam. The landfill contains rockwool residues, primarily consisting of iron, and presumably the chemicals that were used in the factory including...
