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Www.energy.gov/EM 1 Groundwater David S. Rhodes Acquisition Integrated Project Team Chair Environmental Management Los Alamos Field Office March 3, 2015
www.energy.gov/EM 1 Groundwater David S. Rhodes Acquisition
Integrated Project Team Chair Environmental Management Los Alamos
Field Office March 3, 2015
Slide 2
www.energy.gov/EM 2 Regulatory Framework for Water New Mexico
Water Quality Control Commission (NMWQCC) establishes standards
Uses U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water
standards NM applies the EPA standard to any affected regional
aquifer water EPA Clean Water Act standards apply for surface
waters NM certifications apply to any surface water discharges
instead of receiving waters
Slide 3
www.energy.gov/EM 3 Groundwater and Surface Water Interim
Facility-Wide Groundwater Monitoring Plan Planning in coordination
with NNSA M&O in response to NMED-HWB direction on frequencies,
analytes (what we sample for), and locations/screens Sampling,
packaging, and shipping groundwater samples to analytical
laboratories and receiving results, reviewing, and publishing
results in the Environmental Information Management System (EIMS)
(Intellus publically accessible database) Reporting results to
NMED-HWB in Periodic Monitoring Reports (PMR) Surface Water
Protection Monitoring Planning and strategizing surface water
compliance in accordance with the EPA-issued Individual Permit for
Storm Water (IP) Collecting samples, packaging, and shipping
samples to analytical laboratories and receiving results,
reviewing, and publishing results Installation and maintenance of
stormwater controls, comparison to background concentrations, and
evaluation of alternatives Hexavalent Chromium Plume in Mortandad
Canyon Conducting plume control interim measures to prevent
off-site migration Supporting NMED-HWB consideration of
alternatives and NMED-HWB development of a draft Statement of Basis
for a remedy Execution of the selected remedy (likely as a capital
asset project)
Slide 4
www.energy.gov/EM 4 Groundwater and Surface Water RDX High
Explosive Plume in Caon de Valle Surface water corrective actions
to address soil contaminant impacts Subsurface evaluation and
studies include cross-hole pump testing and considerations of
remedy alternatives and supporting NMED-HWB drafting of a Statement
of basis for a remedy Execution of NMED-HWB directed remedy actions
Surface Water Boundary Protection Evaluation of watersheds for
contaminant migration off-site and redistribution of stormwater
sediment transport with the associated installation of appropriate
stormwater controls (beyond requirements of IP for Stormwater)
Vadose Zone Gas or Moisture Monitoring Continuation of soil vapor
extraction at MDA-L, pore-gas monitoring at MDA-C, and moisture
monitoring at MDA-T Wells and Boreholes Installation of wells and
boreholes, maintenance of the equipment and pads, and plugging and
abandoning unnecessary locations
Slide 5
www.energy.gov/EM 5 IFGMP Interim Facility-Wide Groundwater
Monitoring Plan (IFGMP) Shared between EM and NNSA programs
Quarterly, semi-annual, and annual sampling programs 15-16 periodic
monitoring reports per year 95-98 percent of samples are able to be
collected (dry holes and springs) Three weeks to collect samples
Six weeks for data return from analytical laboratories Pueblo data
review requirements before posting Publically-accessible database
(result of chromium settlement) Standard format PMRs (NMED rejected
EIMS data submittal only) NMED frequencies are not data driven, but
project groupings
Slide 6
www.energy.gov/EM 6 Groundwater Monitoring Network Extensive
monitoring network More than 140 groundwater monitoring wells More
than 200 monitoring points (screens) covering 3 zones More than 660
samples analyzed per year Work-plan negotiated annually with NMED
Years of characterization and monitoring have come down to two main
issues Chromium contamination RDX contamination
www.energy.gov/EM 8 Surface Water Controls Examples Individual
Permit for Stormwater (IP) IP issued in 2010, renewal in 2015? o
Discharges from 405 SWMUs and AOCs o NM drinking water quality
standard-based Target Action Levels (TAL) Stormwater samples at
monitoring areas o Storm dependent only half of sites flowed o
Site/result screening process o Path to completion and removal from
IP Installation of stormwater controls and confirmation sampling
Alternative compliance pathways for anthropogenic and background
contributors Semi-annual meetings with NMED and community interest
organizations Los Alamos/Pueblo Canyon Storm Water Quality Sampling
System Early Notification System interface with Buckman Direct
Diversion project
Slide 9
www.energy.gov/EM 9 Surface Water Controls Examples Extensive
monitoring network Watershed scale Sample surface water at over 200
different locations Monitoring to measure performance of
mitigations Conducted in canyons Emphasis is on boundary stations
Additional focus on potential post-fire effects
Slide 10
www.energy.gov/EM 10 Surface water controls
Slide 11
www.energy.gov/EM 11 Surface water controls
Slide 12
www.energy.gov/EM 12 Hexavalent chromium Investigation
Monitoring well pump testing Extraction works in the center of the
plume Extraction pilot testing and plume boundary control Trying to
bring plume edge to drinking water standard within 3 years
Geochemistry laboratory testing Whether natural attenuation can be
a factor Injection wells pilots Extraction water disposition
pathway and shape plume Corrective measures evaluation expected
Fall 2016 to propose remedy
Slide 13
www.energy.gov/EM 13 Chromium groundwater model
Slide 14
www.energy.gov/EM 14 Chromium plume model
Slide 15
www.energy.gov/EM 15 RDX contaminant plume Surface water
corrective measures implementation Potential springs treatment
system o Permitting issues with natural system components Surface
permeable reactive barriers (PRB) o September 2013 storms destroyed
the PRB in canyon channel o Restoring is not cost-effective
Significant removal done previously Subsurface corrective measures
evaluation Additional characterization wells Monitoring well pump
testing Determination of potential remedies
Slide 16
www.energy.gov/EM 16 Surface water boundary protection
Watershed scale stormwater controls Need to evaluate canyon
performance Potential designs must address significant LANL traffic
patterns (roadways) Defense-in-depth Downstream of LANL
Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) controls Downstream of IP
controls and project cleanup activities Mitigates contaminant
transport off-LANL property Protects Pueblo de San Ildefonso and
Santa Fed County public drinking water supplies at the Buckman
Direct Diversion Project in the Rio Grande
Slide 17
www.energy.gov/EM 17 Vadose zone activities MDA-T moisture
monitoring Needed to input to Corrective Measures Evaluation (CME)
o Mesa breathes; will moisture migrate downward? MDA-L Soil Vapor
Extraction To keep VOC plume from migrating further towards water
table Works best under asphalt cap/roads/pads Previous pilot worked
well, operating now Expect to see long-term benefits in reduction
in VOC concentration levels Expect early indication of potential
additional drum leakage MDA-C pore-gas monitoring Minor plume
Impacts adjacent NNSA facility construction
Slide 18
www.energy.gov/EM 18 Groundwater wells and maintenance
Installation and replacement of additional wells, boreholes, and
coreholes Typically ~5 wells of boreholes a year FY2015 has ~10
holes to be drilled Maintenance of groundwater monitoring
equipment, pads, and roads Well pumps fail and need replacement
Wells pads and access roads have to be maintained to allow
all-season access Reconfigure to develop, rehabilitate, rescreen,
etc. as sample quality deteriorates