[CPEO-MEF] Filtration for Atlas base area

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Kansas
Filtration for Atlas base area
By Mark Scott
Dec 4, 2002	

WAMEGO — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will spend nearly $176,000 to 
install filtration devices in the homes of 25 property owners with 
contaminated water wells linked to the former Atlas-E Missile Base 
northwest of Wamego.
 
Corps officials recently met with these homeowners and other Wamego area 
residents to answer questions about the remediation project. The 
granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration systems are designed to 
remove contaminants from water such as trichlorethylene (TCE), the 
chlorine that was used by the U.S. Air Force to clean engines at the 
missile base in the early 1960s.

Joe Baker, public officers officer with the Corps, said a contract was 
awarded to McKinzie Contractors, Olathe, for $175,697. Baker said that 
number figures out to around $7,000 per household, Each GAC system has 
to be specifically designed to each property. Baker said the systems 
will be installed in the next month or so.

“We’re working as quick as we can to get there,” Baker said.
Baker said the GAC filtration systems are considered a temporary 
solution and will be used around two to three years. One of the most 
viable long-term solutions would be to hook these properties up to rural 
water.

The contamination was detected several months ago through a series of 
tests conducted by the Corps and the Kansas Department of Health and 
Environment.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.themercury.com/stories/article.8636.shtml

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