The Courtship Period
The Courtship Period
The Honeymoon Period
The Establishment Period
(pre 1989) - The period known as the Courtship Period, was a time of research and developement of Bioremediation. During this time, not many people knew about this topic save for the inside of the hazardous waste or microbiology community. Multiple articles on the biodegredation of oil were published in the 1970's and 80's. The studies written in these publishings were later proven following the multiple studies done after the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. (HT.1)
(1989 - 1991) - During this period, Bioremediation experienced a great amount of widespread attention and interest. In March, 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Alaska. Throughout the first weeks of the spill, Bioremediation agents were being offered to respondents to help clean up the spill. Afterwards, a committee of Federal and State authorities was established to test which agent worked the best. The Honeymoon period ended between late 1990 and early 1991. (HT.1)
(1992 - Present) - During this period, Bioremediation received a certain level of acceptance, but the level of interest and attention has decreased considerably. Most proposals to use bioremediation in open coastal environments are now accompanied by some type of monitoring program. This program determines whether or not the degredation of oil is accelarating at level above the background rates. The expense and effort needed to run such a program prevents Bioremediation from being used in smaller spills. (HT.1)
600
The Romans built intricate networks of sewers as early as 600 B.C. for collecting wastewater which underwent subsequential biological treatment. (HT.2)
During the 19th century in Rhode Island, it was believed that disposing of waste into local rivers would dilute the waste.
1800
The process of Bioremediation was reportedly devised by George M Robinson during an experiment with dirty jars.
1960
Ananda Chakrabarty and his colleagues at General Electric discovered a strain of bacteria that is able to degrade some components in crude oil.
1970
The first commercial use of a bioremediation system was to clean up a Sun Oil pipeline spill in Ambler, Pennsylvania.
1972
The oil-eating superbug was developed at General Electric by Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty, Ph.D.
1975
1980
Commercialization of bioremediation began in earnest particularly for the treatment of contaminated soils and more recently groundwater.
A powerful promotion of the technology occurred after a high use on contaminated areas after the Exxon Valdez spill. (HT.3)
1989
The term bioremediation began to get more widespread use.
1989
1992
Survey prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency received information on 240 cases of bioremediation in the United States
2005
Bioremediation mechanism was discovered by UK researchers. (H.8)
