Safeguarding Your UST Investment with GPR: How Priority Environmental Protects What’s Underground

Priority Environmental conducting a pre-drilling GPR scan near a UST system. Subsurface anomalies are marked in real time to ensure safe well placement and protect critical infrastructure.

Before any drilling begins on properties with underground petroleum storage tanks (USTs)—whether active or decommissioned—it's essential to understand what lies below the surface. At a recent convenience store site, Priority Environmental deployed Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to locate potential underground hazards, helping ensure that new monitoring wells could be installed without damaging the existing UST system.

Why UST Owners Should Consider GPR

GPR is a powerful, non-invasive imaging tool that scans subsurface conditions to help locate tanks, lines, or other buried structures. In this case, our survey functioned as a proactive safeguard—avoiding costly damage, reducing liability, and streamlining compliance.

Equipment in Action

Our trained field team used the following equipment to conduct a thorough sweep of the site:

• GPR Antenna (250–450 MHz): Mounted on a mobile frame, this unit rolled smoothly across clear surfaces, detecting subsurface structures in real time. While capable of scanning depths up to 8 feet, local soil composition—especially clay—can reduce effective range to around 3 feet.

• Electromagnetic (EM) Pipe Locator: This tool traced metal pipes and tracer wires and identified live signals to distinguish between metallic and non-metallic targets—a perfect complement to the GPR’s capabilities.

• High-Accuracy GPS: Data points collected by handheld GPS provided mapping accuracy within four inches. This information was then integrated into CAD drawings and KMZ files for client records and site planning.

  
  

Results That Reduce Risk

The site was methodically surveyed, focusing on accessible areas and avoiding obstructions like curbs or dense landscaping. Anomalies were marked in the field and reviewed with the project team. Thanks to this technology, monitoring wells were strategically repositioned to protect both infrastructure and regulatory compliance.

What This Means for Your Site

For tank owners, these surveys represent a smart investment. High-traffic sites like convenience stores may lack up-to-date as-built diagrams, and utility strikes can be both dangerous and expensive. GPR gives you peace of mind—before the drill even touches the ground.

Whether you're planning well installation, tank removal, or just need to verify what's beneath your site, Priority Environmental is here to help with precision and expertise.