USGS Washington Water Science Center
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Background - SUBASE Bangor is a 6,785 acre Navy installation located on Hood Canal in Kitsap County, Washington. Currently it serves as the home port to eight Ohio-class TRIDENT missile submarines, but historically the site served as a Naval Ammunition Depot. As a result of the historical activities at Bangor, numerous contaminated sites have been identified. Contaminants include ordnance chemicals, trace metals, chlorinated hydrocarbons, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's). The ground-water flow system at SUBASE Bangor is not understood well enough on a base-wide scale to effectively manage and plan the use of the resource.
A major problem is that the effects of contamination from hazardous-waste sites on the quality of the base-wide ground-water system are unknown because the base-wide ambient water-quality and flow system are not well known. Consequently, the potential effects of proposed and ongoing remedial activities are also unknown. Other base-wide ground water issues are centered on projected demands for ground water due to residential and commercial growth on and around Bangor. Developing large water supplies may induce seawater intrusion, alter recharge to deeper aquifers, lower ground-water levels, and/or decrease flow in streams and creeks. The magnitude of these impacts and the effects of such development on contaminant migration are unknown.