Section 319
NONPOINT SOORGE PROGRAM NICCES? STORY
Remediation Efforts Reduces Pollution Seeping into Waterbodies
Waterbody Improved
Petroleum and chemical seeps from contaminated soil, contaminated
groundwater and leaking storage tanks polluted several waterbodies
flowing through Alaska's King Salmon Air Station (KSAS), including Red Fox Creek, King Salmon Creek,
Eskimo Creek and Naknek River. Alaska placed these waterbodies on the Clean Water Act section 303(d)
list in 1994 (Red Fox Creek) and 1996 (King Salmon Creek, Eskimo Creek and the Naknek River) for impair-
ments by petroleum hydrocarbons and oil and grease. To address the problem, the U.S. Air Force imple-
mented various remedial actions, including removing leaking storage tanks, closing dry wells, removing or
capping contaminated soil, and installing treatment systems. Water quality monitoring data indicate that
these actions are successfully preventing petroleum products from seeping into the waterbodies, allow-
ing them to meet water quality standards. Alaska removed the waterbodies from the impaired waters list
in 2003 (King Salmon and Eskimo creeks) and 2004 (Red Fox Creek and Naknek River).
Problem
Red Fox Creek, King Salmon Creek, Eskimo Creek
and the Naknek River flow through KSAS property
on the Alaska Peninsula. KSAS is approximately 280
miles southwest of Anchorage (Figure 1). KSAS is
on the poorly drained lowlands northwest of the
Aleutian Range. Ground elevations range from 30 to
68 feet above mean sea level. The Air Force built an
air station at the beginning of World War II to serve
as a fuel and support base for the Aleutian Islands.
Alaska acquired the airfield in 1959, which now
serves as a commercial airport. KSAS still supports
some military activities of the Air Force, Army,
Marines and Coast Guard.
During the 1940s and 1950s, activities at KSAS
released petroleum products and chemicals into the
environment. In the 1980s and 1990s, seeps from
this historically contaminated soil, contaminated
groundwater and leaking storage tanks entered
several waterbodies flowing through KSAS—
Red Fox Creek, King Salmon Creek, Eskimo Creek
and the Naknek River. The pollutants created visible
hydrocarbon sheens on the waterbodies, which
violated Alaska's water quality standards. The Alaska
Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC)
placed these waterbodies on the Clean Water Act
section 303(d) list in 1994 (Red Fox Creek) and 1996
(King Salmon Creek, Eskimo Creek, and Naknek
River) for petroleum hydrocarbons and oil and
grease. The Air Force is responsible for cleaning up
the contamination on KSAS.
Barrow
NOT TO SCALE
Juneau
Ketchikan
Figure 1. Contaminated soil and groundwater
on King Salmon Air Station polluted several
waterbodies in the Alaska Peninsula's lower Naknek
River watershed.
Project Highlights
Since 1987 the Air Force has been engaged in
cleanup operations at KSAS under the Installation
Restoration Program (IRP)—the Air Force equiva-
lent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act program. The IRP
provides guidelines and funding to investigate and
remediate potentially contaminated sites at Air
Force installations. The Air Force delineated KSAS
into seven groundwater zones for cleanup on the
basis of similarities in groundwater and surface
water movement, contaminants of concern, geol-
ogy, and location.
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Although the impaired waterbodies are in different
areas of KSAS, similar pollution sources caused their
impairments. For example, data show that Eskimo
Creek was contaminated by petroleum and trichlo-
roethylene (TCE) products seeping into the creek
from a former tank farm, two former dry wells, and
various individual sites. In 1997 TCE levels in Eskimo
Creek reached 0.015 milligrams per liter (mg/L). In
response, the Air Force signed a Record of Decision
for Final Remedial Action, which established a
0.005 mg/L Remedial Action Objective (RAO/cleanup
level) for TCE in the groundwater zone. To address
the pollution source, the Air Force installed a biovent-
ing curtain and groundwater treatment system to
remove the chemicals from the soil and groundwater
and prevent them from reaching Eskimo Creek.
Similarly, groundwater carried petroleum and TCE
contamination from former training areas into Red
Fox Creek. The Air Force launched numerous clean-
up efforts, including removing and treating contami-
nated soil and installing a bioventing system.
Buried and partially exposed storage drums leaked
petroleum hydrocarbons and oil and grease into soil
and groundwater, allowing free product to move
into King Salmon Creek and its adjacent wetlands.
In response, the Air Force removed the exposed
drums and then recontoured and capped the area to
prevent movement of remaining contaminants. The
Air Force also installed a groundwater treatment
system to prevent the polluted groundwater from
flowing into the creek.
Petroleum-contaminated groundwater from a
former tank farm seeped into the wetlands near
the Naknek River and then into the Naknek River
itself. The Air Force removed 1,100 cubic yards of
contaminated soil and remediated the majority of
the petroleum-contaminated groundwater. The
removed soil was treated in facility bioremediation
cells, and the treated soil was reused as landfill cap-
ping material at the facility. The Air Force installed a
passive remediation system that continues to treat
residual contamination before it enters the wetlands
and Naknek River.
The Air Force has an extensive monitoring network
in place and will continue to monitor petroleum lev-
els in groundwater, surface water, upland sediments
and creek sediments to evaluate remedial efforts
and attenuation processes.
Results
Figure 2. Remediation efforts
removed petroleum seeps and
restored Alaska's King Salmon Creek.
Monitoring data indicate
that the Air Force's
remediation efforts
removed historical
petroleum sources and
are successfully treating
remaining contaminated
groundwater before it
can enter the waterbod-
ies. For example, data
from Eskimo Creek show
that TCE levels have
decreased from a high
of 0.015 mg/L before project implementation to
levels predominantly below the RAO of 0.005 mg/L
in recent years. Similarly, monitoring data collected
after project implementation along King Salmon
Creek (Figure 2), Red Fox Creek and the Naknek River
indicate that pollutant levels have declined or were
non-detectable. All four waterbodies met Alaska's
surface water quality standards, prompting ADEC to
remove the waterbodies from the state's impaired
waters list in 2003 (King Salmon and Eskimo creeks)
and 2004 (Red Fox Creek and Naknek River).
Although the Air Force's cleanup efforts have
restored the surface waters, some soil and ground-
water contamination remains on KSAS. Therefore,
restoration efforts at KSAS will continue beyond
2015. Because remaining pollution in the ground-
water could seep into adjacent surface waters, the
Air Force will continue monitoring indefinitely until
groundwater levels fall below the cleanup criteria
outlined in the KSAS IRP.
Partners and Funding
To facilitate public involvement, the Air Force helped
to form the King Salmon Restoration Advisory
Board, which is made up of interested stakeholders,
including members of the King Salmon Tribe, and
serves as a communication link between the com-
munity, local government, the Air Force and regula-
tory agencies. ADEC has worked collaboratively with
the Air Force; the King Salmon Tribe; local com-
panies such as Paug-Vik, an Alaska native-owned
corporation; local residents; the advisory board;
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to improve the conditions at KSAS. The Air Force
is funding all remediation efforts at KSAS. ADEC
provides oversight of the cleanup programs through
a Defense State Memorandum of Agreement.
PR
, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•fc Office of Water
2 Washington, DC
CD
EPA841-F-09-001G
June 2009
For additional information contact:
Jonathan Schick
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
907-269-3077 • jonathan.schick@alaska.gov
Todd Fickel
U.S. Air Force
907-552-7439 •
fickel.todd@elmendorf.af.mil
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