Air Force mobilizing drilling rigs Published Dec. 15, 2014 By Air Force Civil Engineer Center Public Affairs KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Drilling of monitoring wells in an Albuquerque neighborhood has begun as part of an effort to better understand the size, shape and movement of a fuel leak at Kirtland. The wells will be used to address remaining data gaps and further characterize the horizontal and vertical extent of the dissolved phase ethylene dibromide plume that developed from a leak at Kirtland's bulk fuels facility. Up to 17 wells will be installed, including one or two deep groundwater-monitoring wells and five new well clusters -- each consisting of one shallow, one intermediate and one deep well -- which will be installed in the northeast portion of the groundwater plume. Drilling will occur on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The project will take about four months. Drilling rigs will be operating at each cluster location approximately three to four weeks to install the shallow and intermediate wells. The rigs will return to the five cluster locations one or two months later for two to three weeks to install the deep wells. Due to the holidays, drilling will stop Dec. 22 and will resume Jan. 5. During the break, rigs will be removed so street access is not blocked during the down time. Data collected from the monitoring wells will be used to design the "pump and treat" extraction well for the EDB groundwater cleanup system, planned for installation in 2015. For more information, contact the Air Force Civil Engineer Center Office of Public Affairs at 866-725-7617 or afcec.pa@us.af.mil, or go to www.kirtland.af.mil/environment.asp or www.kirtlandjetfuelremediation.com.