If you have any questions regarding these program please

contact Fort Buchanan Directorate of Public Works

Environmental Division at (787) 707-3573/3575

Introduction: The United States Army (Army) has an environmental policy that has made a commitment for the continual improvement of environmental

and safety management practices. The Fort Buchanan installation is among hundreds of installations that are taking on the responsibility of

contamination caused by past practices and restoring the affected areas for a safe environment. The Fort Buchanan Environmental Restoration Program

is centrally funded by the United States Army Environmental Command (USAEC). The clean-up program is responsible to restore former contaminated

sites to remove land use restrictions and improve land use options. The Army works together with Federal and State regulators to meet clean up goals.

RESTORATION PROGRAM: Includes Installation Restoration Program (IRP), Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) and

Compliance Restoration (CR) Program.

Highlights:

• Cleaned up 19 of 21 physical sites; 15 sites require No Further Action (NFA); 6 sites require internal Land Use Control (LUCs).

• Cleanup techniques used : Source Removal, in-situ Chemical Oxidation; Air Sparging/ Vapor Extraction; Activated carbon; Bioremediation.

• Removed Non Hazardous(Fuel impacted) Waste from Fort Buchanan: 1,570 yd3; 189-55 gallon capacity drums; 8,750 gallons of fuel impacted water.

• Community Outreach and Awareness:

- Provided educational awareness for Munitions Explosives of Concern (MEC) through meetings with contractors, tenants and general community.

- Provided fact sheets and Community Involvement Plan (CIP) on the Environmental Restoration Program.

- Held Public Meetings for Proposed Plans with IRP and CR projects; and solicited for Restoration Advisory Boards (RAB) 2009, 2011, and 2013.

- Participated in Fort Buchanan Army Earth Day; conduct field trips; participate in Army intern program.

Installation Restoration Program (IRP):. Identify, investigate and clean up hazardous substances/waste, pollutants and contaminants at active Army installations. Sites include

Northwest Boundary Area (TCE) and the Site wide Investigation that includes 14 sites.

Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP): Addresses non-operational range lands that are suspected or known to contain MEC :unexploded ordnance (UXO), discarded

military munitions (DMM) or Munitions Constituent (MC) contamination. Fort Buchanan has one (1) Munitions Response Site (MRS) known as Camp Buchanan Training Area. It is

located in the western half of the golf course, Maxi Williams baseball field, 1300 building area and the “Mogote hill”. It was used as a small arms firing range 1920s – 1940s.

Environmental Restoration : Investigation and cleanup was performed between 1997-2013.

Figure above. Collecting groundwater samples at the TCE site

to analyze in the laboratory to determine concentrations of the

contamination in groundwater.

Figures Above. Chlorinated solvent Trichloroethylene (TCE) was

discovered in 2005. A monitoring well (48 wells) network was

installed to identify areas of the contamination. Figure 2-5 shows

area of contamination in 2009; Figure 3-4 shows concentrations in

June 2016.

Figure Above : Dated 1937 Camp

Buchanan was a small arms firing range

that operated between 1923 until the

1940’s.

Figure above. Geophysical Investigation of the

Camp Buchanan Training Site in 2010 during the

Remedial Investigation Feasibility Study.

Compliance Restoration (CR)Program : Acquired in FY10 compliance related projects such as leaking Underground Storage Tanks; or recent projects at active Army installations.

Some of the CR site locations include: Bldgs. 376, 390; Former Bldgs. at 380, 517, 556, 746 and un permitted dump site.

.

Photos above: Soil and groundwater impacted at Former Underground Storage

Tank(UST) Site at Building 376 . In-situ Chemical Oxidation method was used.

Chemical Oxidation was also used at Bldg. 380 Area.

Figure above: Shows contractor representative

conducting a geophysical survey of the Camp Buchanan

Training site. This area is currently located at the western

part of the golf site.

Figure 5-2. In-situ Enhanced Bioremediation –

Reductive De-chlorination, Monitor Natural

Attenuation – MNA (Breakdown) for the TCE

site.

Figure above. Adding food and

bacteria to the aquifer to breakdown

the contamination in the TCE site.

Photos above: Soil and groundwater impacted at Former Underground Storage

Tank(UST) Site at former Building 380 /former AAFES Fuel Point and former Building

746 Area. Source removal is the easiest and most cost affective method. Upper right

shows In-situ bioremediation using activated carbon (PlumeStop) and Oxygen

Releasing Compound (ORC).

Figure above. Is taken from the MEC educational

awareness pamphlet. Indicates some of the

munitions pieces found or could be found at Fort

Buchanan.

Photos above: Soil and groundwater impacted at

Former Underground Storage Tank(UST) Site at

Building 390 . In-situ Air Sparging/ Soil Vapor

Extraction was used to remove remaining

contamination that was near vital utility lines.