Two Services Most Firms Can't Actually Deliver

There's a short list of services that appear on contractor capabilities sheets — and a much shorter list of contractors who can actually deploy them on a real site, under real constraints, without subcontracting the work out.

Two of those services: barge drilling and in-situ remediation design and implementation.

1. Barge Drilling — Access Where Land Rigs Can't Go

Barge drilling opens up waterway-adjacent sites that land-based rigs simply can't reach. Rivers, lakes, harbors, coastal investigation zones — if the boring location is over water or too close to the water's edge for a truck rig, you need a barge-mounted platform.

It's a short list of contractors who can mobilize for that. IET operates its own barge drilling program — not a rental arrangement, not a subcontracted crew. Our marine drilling teams have deployed on bridge pier investigations, dock and wharf foundation studies, waterfront environmental assessments, and contaminated sediment programs.

Crane deployment of IET barge drilling platform — full in-house mobilization capability

Why IET for Geotechnical Barge Drilling?

IET's barge drilling program delivers the geotechnical data engineers need for safe, cost-effective marine and waterway structure design. From bridge piers to dock foundations, our crews perform:

• Geotechnical borings and SPT testing
• Undisturbed soil sampling (Shelby tube & California sampler)
• Rock coring from barge-mounted platforms
• Piezometer installations in over-water environments
• Contaminated sediment sampling and environmental investigation

Full crane mobilization — IET deploys barge platforms in-house, no subcontracting

2. In-Situ Remediation — Long-Term Solutions for Complex Plumes

In-situ remediation handles chlorinated solvents and petroleum plumes where you need a long-term, low-disturbance solution — not just dig-and-haul. These are sites where excavation isn't feasible, pump-and-treat would run indefinitely, and the contamination is often layered, migrating, or affecting sensitive receptors.

IET designs and implements the full range of in-situ approaches:

• ISCO (In-Situ Chemical Oxidation) — persulfate, permanganate, hydrogen peroxide for rapid contaminant destruction
• Enhanced Bioremediation (ERD) — electron donor injection for chlorinated solvent degradation
• ISCR (In-Situ Chemical Reduction) — zero-valent iron and reducing agents for metals and chlorinated organics
• EZVI — emulsified zero-valent iron for DNAPL source areas
• ISGS — in-situ geochemical stabilization for mixed contamination

The Common Thread: Access Constraints + Complex Contamination

Both services — barge drilling and in-situ remediation — exist because standard approaches fail on certain project types. When access is limited, when contamination is complex, when the site has been stalled for years on conventional treatment, these are the tools that move projects forward.

IET has documented case studies on both. If you're scoping a project with access constraints or mixed contamination, that's the conversation worth having early.