The MMR Cleanup Program — Four Years Under AFCEE

A fact sheet highlighting the progress made on cleanup of soils and groundwater at the MMR from May 1996 to April 2000.

In May 1996, the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) assumed responsibility for groundwater and soil cleanup under the Installation Restoration Program (IRP) at the Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR).

Since AFCEE took the reins in 1996 — at a time when the then-current design for groundwater cleanup had been rejected by the community — twelve treatment systems have been constructed and started up on eight groundwater plumes and over 56,000 tons of soil have been removed and treated, preventing the soils from contributing to additional groundwater contamination. Currently, nearly 12 million gallons of groundwater are being pumped and treated each day. Furthermore, all additional treatment systems are due to be on-line by 2003, when treatment systems will be cleaning nearly 16 million gallons per day of groundwater.

Nowhere else in the country has a Superfund cleanup program of this magnitude moved from investigation to treatment in such a short time. This incredible progress could only have been accomplished with the participation and valued input of many stakeholders — including homeowners living in affected neighborhoods, volunteer community advisory team members, technical scientific advisors, elected officials at all levels, and regulatory agency staff, just to name a few.

This fact sheet highlights the progress made in these four years.

Program Accomplishments

Over the past four years, the IRP has achieved significant progress in many areas, including:

• Cleanup of source areas on the MMR
• Design, construction, and startup of 12 groundwater treatment systems
• Pilot-testing and implementation of innovative treatment technologies to improve treatment, minimize community impacts, and save government funds
• Development of an award-winning community involvement program
• Protection of public and private water supplies, including extensive sampling of private wells and provision of alternate water supplies as a precaution to ensure public health and safety

Source Area Cleanup

When the MMR originally was designated a Superfund site in 1989, 78 source areas on the MMR were identified as potentially being contaminated and contributing to the advance of groundwater contamination. In cooperation with the regulatory agencies, AFCEE has worked aggressively to determine which sites were indeed contaminated (with what and how much) and which sites warranted cleanup based on the levels of contamination present and the potential threat to human health and the environment. Currently:

• 27 sites are pending soil cleanup scheduled to begin in 2000–2001.
• 27 sites are closed or pending closure based on the finding that the sites do not pose a threat to human health or the environment.
• 18 sites are closed or pending closure because treatment has been completed.
• 6 sites are under investigation.

As part of the source area cleanup program, over 56,000 tons of soil have been treated and another 4,500 tons are scheduled for treatment in 2000-2001. Additionally, fuel in the Fuel Spill 12 source area has been removed and a cap has been placed on Landfill 1, preventing additional contaminants from moving into the groundwater.

Groundwater Plumes

When AFCEE took responsibility for the cleanup program in May 1996, 11 groundwater plumes had been identified and a treatment system had been constructed for one of them (Chemical Spill 4). A design to treat simultaneously the other remaining plumes had just been rejected by the community, based on the fact that it would have caused unacceptable environmental impacts.

AFCEE’s first priority, then, was to develop a strategic plan for the rapid selection of acceptable and effective treatment systems for the remaining groundwater plumes. This strategic plan and schedule was developed within 15 days of AFCEE’s arrival in May 1996.

AFCEE then worked closely with the regulatory agencies to develop an innovative approach for effectively comparing and selecting treatment alternatives in an expedited manner with the full involvement of community stakeholders. This approach was known as the Plume Response Decision Criteria Matrix process. Implementation of this unique approach resulted in the selection of treatment alternatives for four major off-base groundwater plumes in less than a year.

At the same time, AFCEE was designing and constructing two other treatment systems (Fuel Spill 12 and Storm Drain 5 North). Beginning with a 30% design, AFCEE was able to design and construct these large treatment systems in 16 months.

While systems selected using the Decision Criteria Matrix Process were being designed and constructed, AFCEE continued to work with stakeholders to identify appropriate and effective cleanup alternatives for other groundwater plumes, and to continue investigations in areas where there was insufficient data. One such investigation, known as the SouthWest Operable Unit (SWOU) investigation, resulted in the identification of three additional groundwater plumes, and additional investigation of the Chemical Spill 19 site brought the total number of groundwater plumes to 15. These plumes were added to the schedule for expedited selection of treatment alternatives.

As of April 2000:

• 8 plumes are undergoing treatment with 12 systems already in place (Chemical Spill 4, Storm Drain 5, Fuel Spill 12, Fuel Spill 28, Fuel Spill 1, Chemical Spill 10, Landfill 1, and Ashumet Valley)
• 4 plumes have treatment systems that have been selected and currently are being designed (Chemical Spill 4 – replacement system, Chemical Spill 20, Chemical Spill 21, and Fuel Spill 1). As part of design, additional investigation is being conducted to fill remaining "data gaps."
• 2 plumes are pending a final decision for treatment, following a public comment period (Fuel Spill 28 and Fuel Spill 29)
• 3 plumes were selected for long-term monitoring (Eastern Briarwood, Western Aquafarm, and Fuel Spill 13)
• 1 plume is under investigation and will go through a public comment period on treatment alternatives in May 2001 (Chemical Spill 19)

Please note that the total does not equal 15 because some plumes have more than one action being taken(e.g., Fuel Spill 1, Fuel Spill 28, Chemical Spill 4).

For the 8 plumes with 12 operating treatment systems:

• 76 extraction wells, 379 shallow well points, 2 recirculating wells, 37 reinjection wells, and 7 infiltration trenches or galleries have been installed
• 10 treatment plants have been constructed
• Over 4.4 billion gallons of groundwater have been treated
• Nearly 12 million gallons of groundwater is treated per day
• Over 750 pounds of solvents and 220 pounds of fuels have been removed from groundwater

Construction of Landfill 1 Treatment Plant - carbon vessels

As an integral part of the groundwater cleanup program, AFCEE conducts a system performance and ecological impacts monitoring program (SPIEM) to monitor performance of the treatment systems and ensure that they will not adversely affect ecosystems around the MMR. AFCEE regularly monitors surface water ecology, the quality of groundwater resources, the performance of the treatment systems, hydraulic changes to the aquifer, and other measures of ecosystem health.

Innovative Treatment Technologies

In order to ensure that the treatment systems implemented as part of the MMR cleanup program are the most effective, efficient, and cost-efficient systems possible, AFCEE has pilot-tested and used several innovative treatment technologies and has worked with the Environmental Technology Center at the MMR to enhance system designs.

• Two variations of recirculating well technology were pilot-tested in 1997 and 1998.
• Two recirculating well systems were installed in the Storm Drain 5 South groundwater plume as part of the final treatment system. These systems later were modified to a "closed-loop" system to address technical and community concerns about release of potentially contaminated air to the environment. This modification was relatively unique and had only been done in Europe.
• A "reactive wall" using iron filings to intercept and chemically react with contaminated groundwater was installed in 1997. Reactive wall technology had never been pilot-tested at such depths before.
• In 1999, the Environmental Technology Center directed an optimization project that resulted in a more efficient treatment system design for a portion of the Chemical Spill 10 plume.

Community Involvement

During the past four years, AFCEE also established an extensive community involvement program which recently was awarded second place as outstanding program of the year from the International Association of Public Participation. AFCEE’s community involvement program has been instrumental in enhancing relationships, restoring public trust, achieving consensus on cleanup decisions, and expediting startup of treatment systems.

Since May 1996:

• Over 300 citizen advisory team, public, and neighborhood meetings have been held
• A web site was established (www.mmr.org) and over 1,200 documents have been added to it. (In May 2000 it was redesigned to include all documents in the Administrative Record and to make everything easier to find.)
• Over 70 speaking engagements with local groups have been conducted
• 87 fact sheets have been produced
• 235 news releases have been issued
• Over 30 public comment periods have been held

Protection of Public and Private Water Supplies

To ensure that groundwater plumes do not affect public health, AFCEE has worked closely with the surrounding towns to protect public water supplies. Within 60 days of agreeing to do so at a Falmouth selectmens’ meeting in 1996, AFCEE designed and constructed a $600,000 carbon treatment system to protect the town’s Coonamessett water supply well. The carbon system ensures that any contaminants that might enter the well from groundwater plumes would be removed. This system is a precaution in order to protect public health; plume contaminants have never been detected at the well.

AFCEE conducts a residential well sampling program to ensure that private wells have not been affected by nearby groundwater plumes. As part of this program, AFCEE has collected and analyzed over 7,700 samples from residential wells since May 1996.

In situations where the safety of residential wells has been considered threatened, AFCEE has supplied bottled water as a precaution until sampling indicated the wells were clean or until connections to public water could be established. AFCEE has connected approximately 700 residences to town public water supplies.

Future

By 2003, AFCEE plans to complete all soil and groundwater cleanup projects and the program will be transitioned into an operations-and-maintenance mode. By 2003, AFCEE has committed to:

• Implementing last known soil cleanup projects
• Designing, constructing, and beginning operations for remaining groundwater treatment systems
• Defining and refining operations and performance monitoring
• Continuing to inform and involve the public
• Continuing to sample residential wells as necessary

In the years beyond 2003, AFCEE will:

• Monitor and maintain groundwater treatment systems
• Optimize treatment system operations
• Maintain and modify systems as needed
• Conduct trends analysis and forecasting and refine monitoring programs
• Determine when cleanup goals have been achieved and treatment systems can be turned off and removed
• Continue to inform and involve the public
• Continue to sample residential wells as necessary

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