THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280408
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Spill sites, underground storage tanks and chemical dumping grounds can be detected and dealt with about 80 percent cheaper and faster than in the past - thanks to new military technology.
A new system that measures soil properties, including chemical contamination, was demonstrated Wednesday at a fuel storage area at Langley Air Force Base.
An estimated 12,000 to 31,000 gallons of jet fuel from an old steel pipeline next to the runway was first detected in 1987. But, after three days of tests using the new system, Langley officials know precisely where the fuel has gone.
The technology makes use of a truck-mounted fiber optic probe that pierces the ground, shoots laser beams into the subsurface, then transmits data back to a computer. A three-dimensional graphic printout pinpoints where contaminants are, or have leeched into the ground.
The Air Force emptied, cleaned and sealed 24 25,000-gallon tanks - used from the early 1970s until 1990 - and removed the pipeline in 1991. Then it built a pump and treatment system to deal with the five-acre site's leakage.
But efforts to remove the fuel have been unsuccessful.
The result is fuel floating on groundwater, which the new laser system of detection shows to be concentrated in a 200-foot by 200-foot area beneath the grassy surface.
The groundwater is too salty to be used for drinking water, said Rhonda Hayden, chief of installation restoration program.
The old method of testing was to drill wells in the ground, collect water and soil samples, then send them to a lab for analysis. Test results, which were often inaccurate and misleading, normally took a year to get back.
Considering the fact that Langley, a Superfund site, has identified more than 45 problem areas that need cleaning up, it could take decades to find and measure the damage.
The new site characterization system was developed by the Air Force, Army and Navy, along with Loral Defense Systems.
While it has been used at other military installations across the nation since 1993, Langley is the first base in Virginia to make use of it.
The technology is available to civilian communities, but no local organizations have requested it, according to Vern Bartels, restoration program manager at Langley.
Hayden said the new system helps environmentalists make decisions faster and cheaper.
``Now that testing is completed, we'll get all the information together, evaluate what to do, talk with the state and propose some action,'' Bartels said.
``We'll either leave the present pump and treat system in place and concentrate on the higher density fuel areas, revise the treatment system, or take a completely different approach.''
Bartels said the pumped fuel goes through an oil-water separator, then it can be reused. by CNB