Legal Land Descriptions for Site Remediation

Site remediation is where well closure meets environmental science. After a well is abandoned and surface equipment is removed, the land needs to be assessed and restored to meet Alberta's reclamation standards. Every step of that process — the Phase I desktop review, the Phase II soil and groundwater investigation, the remediation work plan, and the reclamation certificate application — references the site by its legal land description.

Environmental consultants working on remediation projects across Alberta handle dozens or hundreds of sites at a time. Each site is an LSD in the DLS system. Converting those descriptions to GPS coordinates is a daily task — for field sampling plans, for GIS mapping, for regulatory submissions, and for dispatching sampling crews to the right locations.

Why Remediation Professionals Need DLS Conversion

Phase I Environmental Site Assessments

A Phase I ESA is a desktop review that identifies potential contamination sources at a site. The site is identified by its legal land description in the AER well database. The consultant needs GPS coordinates to:

• Pull satellite imagery for the historical land use review
• Identify adjacent land uses within a specified radius
• Map the site relative to water bodies, residences, and sensitive receptors
• Prepare the site location figure for the ESA report

Enter the site LSD into Township Canada and the consultant has coordinates, a map view, and export options within seconds — enough to start the desktop review immediately.

Phase II Investigations

A Phase II ESA involves field work — soil borings, groundwater monitoring wells, and laboratory analysis. The field crew needs precise GPS coordinates for the site and for individual sampling locations within the site boundary. A wrong LSD on the work order sends the drilling rig to the wrong quarter section.

For sites identified as LSD 14-07-040-04W5 — a parcel in the Strachan area west of Rocky Mountain House — the field team needs coordinates loaded into handheld GPS units before they leave the office. Township Canada provides the centroid coordinates and the parcel boundary on the survey grid, giving the crew a visual reference for the site layout.

Reclamation Certificates

Directive 079 reclamation certificate applications require detailed location information. The application form references the site by DLS notation, but supporting documents — the reclamation report, the vegetation assessment, the soil analysis maps — need GPS coordinates and GIS-ready files.

Converting the site LSD and exporting as KML, Shapefile, and CSV produces the location data needed for the full application package in a single step.

Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Multi-Site Remediation Program

An environmental consulting firm is managing remediation at 45 former well sites for a mid-size producer. The sites span Townships 38 to 44, Range 3-7 W5M — roughly the area between Sundre and Rocky Mountain House. The project manager needs to:

1. Map all 45 sites to identify geographic clusters for scheduling field crews
2. Generate GPS coordinates for each site for the field sampling plan
3. Produce site location figures for 45 individual Phase II reports
4. Export the full inventory as a Shapefile for the client's GIS system

Upload the site list to the batch converter. In seconds, the project manager has GPS coordinates for all 45 sites, a KML file showing the full project footprint, and a Shapefile for GIS analysis. Planning that would take a day of manual work is done before the first coffee is cold.

Scenario 2: Groundwater Monitoring Network

A remediation project at LSD 02-31-038-05W5 requires quarterly groundwater monitoring at six monitoring wells surrounding the former well pad. The field technician needs:

1. GPS coordinates for the former well location (the centroid of the monitoring network)
2. Directions from the office in Red Deer to the site — 90 minutes on Highway 11 and then grid roads
3. A site map showing the LSD boundary relative to the surrounding sections

The directions feature routes the technician from Red Deer directly to the LSD. The survey grid overlay on the map confirms the site boundary for the sampling plan.

Scenario 3: Regulatory Submission for Reclamation

After three years of monitoring, a site at NE-22-041-06W5 meets reclamation criteria. The consultant prepares the Directive 079 application package, which requires:

• Site location in DLS notation (already on file)
• GPS coordinates in the application form
• A KML file showing the reclaimed area for the AER reviewer
• A PDF site plan with the survey grid for the printed submission

Convert the quarter section in Township Canada and export to KML, PDF, and CSV. Three regulatory formats from one conversion.

How Township Canada Handles Remediation Workflows

Site lookup: Enter any remediation site LSD and get GPS coordinates with a survey grid overlay. Use it for Phase I desktop reviews, field planning, and quick location verification.

Batch processing: Upload a CSV of remediation sites and convert the full inventory at once. Essential for consulting firms managing multi-site programs. Available on the Business plan.

Field crew routing: Use the route planner to plan efficient sampling routes across multiple sites in a single field day. Enter LSDs as stops and get optimized driving directions.

Multi-format export: Download results as CSV, KML, Shapefile, GeoJSON, DXF, or PDF. Covers every format needed for ESA reports, reclamation applications, and client GIS deliverables.

Survey grid visualization: The map overlay shows township, section, quarter section, and LSD boundaries — giving remediation professionals the spatial context they need to verify site locations and plan sampling grids.

For occasional site lookups, the free plan is sufficient. For consulting firms managing multiple remediation projects with batch conversion and export needs, the Business plan fits the workflow. See pricing or contact sales for team options.