Air Force provides Kirtland fuel spill cleanup project update Published Oct. 27, 2014 By Armando Perez AFCEC Public Affairs JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- The Air Force provided an update on the investigation and cleanup of the former bulk fuels facility fuel spill at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Oct. 23, at the African-American Performing Arts Center in Albuquerque. Representatives from Kirtland AFB, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, New Mexico Environment Department and Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority were present to provide information and answer questions on the progress of the project. The quarterly public information forum included an informational poster session followed by a public meeting to provide the latest details about the spill response as the Air Force works to preserve and protect Albuquerque's drinking water supply. In the public meeting, the Air Force announced its plan to have extraction wells cleaning up the plume by June 2015. "I truly see this as a partnership among everyone at this meeting and all the members of the Albuquerque community, local, state and federal agencies, and the Air Force and Kirtland," said Col. Tony Haught, commander of the 377th Mission Support Group at Kirtland, who opened the meeting. The Air Force is working closely with NMED and other agencies to enhance the transparency of the fuel cleanup project in order to better keep the community informed. In addition to the quarterly meetings, the team meets with homeowner associations and civic groups and maintains a website with the latest information and background about the spill and cleanup operations. Prior to the public meeting, NMED hosted a field trip Oct. 21 that showed about 50 participants different areas of where the spill is located in relation to the base. Attendees saw where the fuel facility tanks were located, core of the groundwater contamination plume, and walked the U.S. Geological Survey drilling site where early warning monitoring wells are being placed. Ryan Flynn, NMED secretary, spoke to the audience prior to the meeting as well to emphasize the importance of providing accurate information to the public and the overall goal of the quarterly meetings to educate about the risks and the solutions that are being implemented. "We want you to be able to interact directly with the men and women who are on the ground, the scientists and engineers, who are actually doing the work," said Flynn. "The goal of the poster sessions and this meeting is to allow you direct access ... and to get direct feedback." The Air Force- and NMED-led public meeting presentation highlighted the working groups they've forged with other stakeholders - namely ABCWUA, City of Albuquerque and New Mexico State Engineer - to develop the most effective, efficient approach to achieving the primary goals to accelerate installation and operation of previously approved cleanup measures; extract groundwater to remove contaminants, chief among them ethylene dibromide, or EDB; and to collapse the EDB plume. The overarching priority among all stakeholders is to protect Albuquerque's drinking water supply, officials said. "The collapsing of the EDB plume ... is the biggest driver for this site," said Adria Bodour, AFCEC's technical lead for the project. "The plan is in three phases. The first is to put extraction wells in place to remove and treat contaminated EDB water. The second phase is to expand the system to collapse this plume back onto the base, and the third phase is to optimize the system and maintain it to ensure collapsing of the plume is completed." The Pump and Treat Interim Measures plan is a two-stage effort to collapse the plume to protect Albuquerque's drinking water supply and gather more data for long-term remediation. The first stage, beginning February 2015, is to install three extraction wells to remove contaminants and provide data to further characterize plume size and shape, and the second stage is to expand the system to gather data and when fully operational, the system capacity can treat up to 800 gallons per minute for water to be used in non-drinking applications, such as irrigation. Visit the Kirtland AFB environmental website for more information and links to project pages: http://www.kirtland.af.mil/environment.asp.