You've assessed your site and decided to treat the contamination in place. The big question now is, do you work with the microbes you already have, or do you need to bring in a specialized team? This is the choice between biostimulation and bioaugmentation, and it's where the active cleanup truly begins.

Once you know the what, where, and who of your contamination problem, you face a major strategic decision: Do you treat the problem right where it is, or do you dig it up and treat it somewhere else? This choice between an in situ (Latin for "in position") and an ex situ ("out of position") approach will define the entire remediation project.

Before a single microbe is cultured or a single seed is planted, every successful bioremediation project begins with a crucial first step: Site Assessment. This is the detective work—the process of understanding the "crime scene" of the contamination. Rushing this phase is the surest way to guarantee failure, while a thorough assessment paves the way for a successful cleanup.