NEWS RELEASE 2006-17 December 11, 2006 MASSACHUSETTS Military Reservation, Cape Cod, Mass.- Officials of
the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) announced today the completion
of two additional groundwater cleanup projects boosting the total gallons of groundwater
cleaned per day to approximately 18 million gallons.
The previous rate was approximately 12 million gallons per day. The first
project involved four groundwater plumes in Hatchville in the areas of Boxberry Hill Road,
Sam Turner Road and Falmouth-Woods Road. This
was the biggest and most challenging groundwater cleanup project ever undertaken by AFCEE
with a cost of over $20 million dollars, most of it constructed on private, town and state
land. It consists of AFCEE’s largest groundwater treatment plant, nine miles of piping, 20 extraction and reinjection wells and two infiltration galleries that were constructed over a two year period and are now operational, cleaning up four groundwater plumes of contamination. The Chemical Spill 4 (CS-4), CS-20, CS-21, and Fuel Spill 29 plumes contain chemicals from the base that are dissolved in groundwater including ethylene dibromide, trichloroethene, perchloroethene, and carbon tetrachloride above safe drinking water limits. These are chemicals related to fuel and solvents. Residents in these areas were previously put on Town of Falmouth water at AFCEE expense to eliminate any risk of exposure from the plumes through drinking water. A second
project was also completed that involved an additional extraction well for the Landfill
One groundwater plume and two extraction wells for the recently defined Chemical Spill 23
groundwater plume in North Falmouth. “This is
truly a major milestone in our cleanup program,” stated Jon Davis, AFCEE Remediation
Program Manager. “We are quickly
approaching a time when all cleanup systems will be in place and all final decisions are
made for soil and groundwater contamination under our Installation Restoration Program. I am grateful for the support of area homeowners;
town, state and federal officials and agencies,” he added. In addition to
the operation of the new systems there will be periodic monitoring of test wells in these
areas to determine the effectiveness of the systems.
If necessary, extraction well modifications may be made to improve
performance. Such modifications could include
adjusting flow rates and the vertical length of well intake screens in the aquifer to
maximize the highest removal of contaminants. For more information, please contact
Mr. Doug Karson, AFCEE Community Involvement Lead at (508) 968-4678, ext. 2; fax (508)
968-4673; or e-mail doug.karson@brooks.af.mil. To
learn more about the cleanup program visit our web site at www.mmr.org.
|
