[CPEO-MEF] New EPA tests could affect MUD well project

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Nebraska
New EPA tests could affect MUD well project
BY NANCY GAARDER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

MEAD, Neb. - Federal officials have expanded their investigation of a
polluted aquifer near here to include a search for radioactive
contamination and a variety of landfill-related pollutants.

The site is about 30 miles west of Omaha and within two miles of where
the Metropolitan Utilities District wants to drill wells to supply
Omaha's future drinking water needs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency
are conducting the expanded investigation at the former Nebraska
Ordnance Plant. Over the years, about 24 square miles of the aquifer
have become contaminated by solvents and explosives. The pollution,
which resulted from bomb-making and from storage of long-range missiles
on the grounds of the munitions facility, has been migrating through the
aquifer.

The EPA has expanded the testing for two reasons, said Craig Bernstein,
remedial site manager. First, the agency recently received specific
information from the University of Nebraska about its disposal of
low-level radioactive waste at the site. Second, an old landfill is on
the east side of the grounds, the side nearest MUD's planned well field.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=660318

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