Air Force plan accelerates Kirtland plume clean-up

  • Published
  • By Air Force Civil Engineer Center
  • Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  The Air Force announced plans Sept. 17 to accelerate its operations to clean up a fuel-spill plume at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M.

In a meeting with New Mexico Environment Department officials and other stakeholder groups in the Albuquerque mayor's office, Mark Correll, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Environment, Safety and Infrastructure, laid out a path of milestones that would have extraction wells pulling contaminants from the groundwater by June 2015.

"The Air Force shares the Albuquerque community's need for urgency in addressing the bulk fuels facility leak," Correll said. "This plan ensures Albuquerque's drinking water is never contaminated, collapses the EDB (ethylene dibromide) plume, and continues to bring other contaminants below regulatory levels."

The proposal was well received in the afternoon meeting and also later in the day at the monthly Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority board meeting. NMED, the regulatory authority for the cleanup, and other stakeholders agreed to provide the Air Force feedback within the next 30 days regarding their commitment to the way forward.

"The extraordinary leadership being put forward by the Air Force is very encouraging," said NMED Secretary Ryan Flynn. "The remediation process has hit a new level of increased momentum and we look forward to working collaboratively with them on the plans they've put forward."

The accelerated interim measures plan to clean up the plume, which lies under the base and in the neighborhoods just north of Kirtland AFB, involves a three-phase approach tied into operations already taking place.

The first phase began in August with an NMED-approved work plan to install an extraction well that will begin removing contamination by June 2015. The well will also help prevent migration of the plume toward public drinking water supply wells. In addition, phase one activities include adding 16 more groundwater monitoring wells to better define the depth and width of the EDB plume and complete nine U.S. Geological Survey-installed sentinel wells that will provide early detection should EDB ever approach Albuquerque's drinking water production wells.

The second phase includes two steps beginning with increasing the number of EDB extraction wells to four with installation of three additional extraction wells, targeted to be operational by September 2015. Using data generated from the four extraction wells, existing monitoring wells and sentinel wells, a joint Air Force-NMED technical team will then identify the second step of installing up to four more extraction wells that will be online in 2016.

"Today's important briefing with Deputy Assistant Secretary Mark Correll and leaders from the local, state and federal levels marks a significant milestone in the efforts to clean up the Kirtland Air Force Base fuel spill," said Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, who facilitated the afternoon stakeholder meeting. "I appreciate the efforts of all involved to tackle this critical issue in our city and I am confident that meaningful progress is being and will continue to be made."