Over time, steps have been taken to resolve decades-old Kirtland AFB chemical spill

Jul. 29—Some 50 years ago, 2 million to 4 million gallons of gasoline had slowly leaked into the ground during routine airplane refueling at Kirtland Air Force Base. Officials from the base and the state were not concerned by the fuel leaking into the ground. According to Kirtland officials, they knew the fuel had leaked but were unaware of the extent of damage.

What they didn't know was that there was groundwater 500 feet below the surface, and over time that water was contaminated from the gasoline.

Roughly 25 years later, city officials and the airmen realized that there was contamination. Once the issue was identified, a plan needed to be created to make sure benzene and other chemicals did not leak into city water systems. The facility responsible for the leak, meanwhile, was closed down.

The concerns from state officials and the public centered on this: How far has this contamination spread and would it affect drinking water?

The base, the New Mexico Environmental Department and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Authority came together to create a plan to reverse the damage. In 2011, the groundwater treatment facility was created to identity where the issues were and to create a long-term plan of resolution.

As cleanup efforts have shifted from investigation and identifying contaminated areas over the decades, the base recently opened the doors to its groundwater treatment facility for the public to show the progress made in its cleanup efforts. This in part was an attempt to alleviate the public's concerns and in response to a report from the New Mexico Environmental Law Center in 2020, stating that Kirtland "failed to adequately to respond to the decades-long leak of gasoline and jet fuel.

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center declined to comment for this story, stating that the case has been closed.

Why the slow response?

Public outcry was loud following the announcement of the fuel spillage, many asking "Why did it take so long to start treatment?"

According to Air Force civil engineer and project restoration manager Ryan Wortman, there were two main issues.

Kirtland did not realize the severity of the problem.

Groundwater is located far below the surface and when the spillage was first announced, people didn't really think about what lies below the surface or what damage could be done.

"Nobody had a full understanding of the situation ," Wortman said.

Investigations, in any case, needed to precede treatment.

Before treatment could begin, officials had to identify how far below the surface the water had been contaminated and the degree of contamination. Another concern was that if treatment was done before there was a full understanding of the issue, it could cause the groundwater to flow and infect other areas. Gravity and pressure move water downward and sideways underground through spaces between rocks, so while it does not move at the same pace as rivers, groundwater still has the potential to travel.

How the treatment facility works

The facility was built in 2011 with capture systems to find the contaminated water and treat it. Wells in Albuquerque connect to the treatment facility, where systems wait to treat the water with a three-step filtration process. Since it has been built, the facility has expanded from one contamination wall (a section of the groundwater treatment facility dedicated to water cleanup efforts) to four, to add more filtration systems.

"Water must be treated to a drinking standard before it is considered treated," said U.S. Army Corps engineer Ben Moayyad.

The water is first sent to a settling tank to equilibrate the flow of water. Once the tank is depleted, wells pump in more water to get treated. From the settling tank, disinfectant is added to the water before it gets moved to another tank. This step is considered the bag filtration portion of treatment.

In the second tank, microbes and sediment are removed from the water using minerals that filter the sediment in the water. Sediment attaches to the minerals instead of the water, removing large toxins.

The water is mixed with carbon, which ensures that fuel sticks to the carbon instead of the water. The carbon is the final part of the filtration process and typically is done twice to guarantee there is no remaining contamination.

"We send all the water to labs before and after to check if treatment is working and if water is at a drinkable level," Moayyad said. Once it has passed tests, it is redistributed. Roughly half of the water goes to the city-operated Los Altos golf course, and the other half is sent back to the ground.

According Wortman, the facility is an interim measure of treatment. Officials were concerned about a large plume of ethalen that was traveling northeast to the Ridgecrest well area. In 2014, a countermeasure was put in place in the former of monitoring wells. The wells are designed to monitor groundwater levels and send samples to the water authority. Currently, Kirtland has 174 groundwater monitoring wells in place, according to an information sheet from the base.

Wortman said that 99% of the plume has been dealt with in the capture zone as of this year.

The future

Currently, the fuel spillage is still in the investigation phase of a long-term resolution. While there is work being done to treat groundwater, testing has to be done first.

"The Air Force base and the state have to agree that the problem has been identified before moving forward," said project restoration manager Jim Watts-Garrett.

Watts-Garrett believes the next step will be going after the benzene (a chemical in fuel) source. There are several treatment options but he believes there are two options that work best.

Activating the ecosystem: Microorganisms in the ground might be able to break up some of the benzene source, but in order to do so, those microorganisms must be stimulated.

Injecting oxygen: When benzene is around oxygen, it stops moving, and the oxygen can eat away at the chemical. The issue with this solution is that benzene can move and officials are concerned it will spread instead of breaking down.

Watts-Garrett believes within the next year, officials will move past the investigation period and start debating on what method will be best to solve the issue. Public opinion must be heard during this time, and officials have to agree on a solution before that phase begins. He believes within the next five years, officials can aggressively go after the source and resolve the problem once and for all.