Kirtland begins work on spill treatment method

  • Published
  • By Lee Ross
  • Nucleus editor
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Kirtland is in the process of testing a new fuel spill cleanup measure as a part its ongoing remediation efforts.

This method, known as "air sparging," is a process that introduces air to the groundwater to assist in removal of fuel contaminants.

Its installation and location is being done at the direction of the New Mexico Environment Department, which oversees the cleanup.

A pilot well is being drilled on Veterans Administration hospital property south of Ridgecrest Drive near the base. The results from the test method used there will
guide decisions on further expansion opportunities.

The new pilot well is northeast of the Kirtland's Bulk Fuels Facility where a leak in a fuel offloading ramp pipe was discovered in 1999.

This particular location was chosen, in part, because it is on the leading edge of the original fuel spill area and doesn't disturb the natural degradation occurring
closer to the fuel concentration, primarily inside the Kirtland base fence line.

There, the concentrated fuel, called light non-aqueous phase liquids or LNAPL, is degrading through existing natural bacteria that consume most of the fuel contaminants.

"We don't want to disrupt the naturally-occurring, oxygen-free anaerobic degradation in that area," said Wayne Bitner, chief of Environmental Restoration for the base.

The air-sparging pilot well is designed to strip volatile organic compounds, in this case benzene and ethylene dibromide, the primary contaminants Kirtland is looking to remove from this area of the fuel plume.

Air is injected into the water, some 500 feet below ground surface. Volatile contaminants like benzene and EDB then move into air bubbles, which rise into the ground soil above the water table. There, the air and contaminants, or soil vapor, are captured and destroyed.

The method is expected to remove 50 percent or more of the EDB from the area of the air sparging well, Bitner said.  The leak likely existed for decades before being discovered and free fuel product on the groundwater was not discovered until January 2007.

Following discovery of the leak the base fuel handling and storage facility has been completely rebuilt with fully visible pipes and electronic fuel tracking equipment.

By law, Kirtland's efforts to remediate the fuel spill, including the air sparging well, are directed by the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and administered by the New Mexico Environment Department.

All Kirtland cleanup work must be rigorously reviewed and approved by NMED, with work permitting approvals obtained from city and county officials before any actions can take place.

According to Bitner, Kirtland will meet a June 30 deadline imposed by NMED for the airsparging test well to be operational.