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1.6.05 Agency will test near new M.U.D. wellfield The Metropolitan Utilities District will contract with the U.S. Geological Survey to test the aquifer near its new well field for explosives and solvents. On Wednesday, the utility's board approved spending $90,600 on two years of testing. Six monitoring wells south and west of the well field will be tested twice a year for RDX and TCE, pollutants from a now-defunct munitions plant and missile site. The site, near Mead, Neb., is in the federal Superfund program, which means it is one of the nation's top environmental cleanup priorities. Kevin Tobin of M.U.D. said the Geological Survey will provide an additional $10,000 toward the cost of the testing. An added bonus of contracting with the Geological Survey, Tobin said, is the credibility that the agency brings to the tests. M.U.D. has been bitterly criticized by neighbors of the well field who fear that the utility's pumping will draw contaminants into household wells. The tests will be done in 2005 and 2006. In the meantime, M.U.D. will develop plans for additional, future tests. Both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District are requiring M.U.D. to monitor the aquifer for the movement of pollutants. |
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