Fort Leavenworth, Kansas was founded in 1827 and is home to the Command and General Staff Officers College, the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, and the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks. Fort Leavenworth is located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, and occupies 5,634 acres on the west bank of the Missouri River (fig. 1). The Installation Restoration Program (IRP) is the United States Army’s program under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program for investigation and cleanup of hazardous waste at Department of Defense sites. Previous investigations have discovered contaminated sites, called Solid Waste Management Units (SWMUs), at Fort Leavenworth that are designated as Fort Leavenworth Sites (FTLs).
Currently, (2002) Fort Leavenworth has five operating water-supply wells in the Weston Bend meander loop of the Missouri River flood plain that supply 1.5 million gallons per day for the Fort’s drinking water. A reliable source of drinking water is critical to the Fort’s mission. The presence of ground-water contamination at three SWMUs, (two Former Fire Training Areas, FTL-10 and FTL-11 and Building 139 within the river bend) (fig. 2), and inundation of the existing supply wells by water from the Missouri River during the flood of 1993 have raised concerns about the future reliability of the Fort’s existing drinking water.
FTL-10 operated from the 1950s to 1980 and FTL-11 operated from 1980 to 1989. Both areas were used to store drummed flammable and hazardous-waste materials before their use as fire training areas. During fire training exercises, the waste material was placed on the ground and burned. Building 139 was built in the 1950s and was used to house diesel generators for nearby radio transmitters. A 30,000 gallon diesel fuel storage tank was buried to the south of the building. The building was abandoned in the early 1970s and the tank was removed in July 1991.
Ground-water contamination at FTL-10 and FTL-11 and potential diesel fuel contamination at the Building 139 area pose a potential threat to the existing water supply well field and other nearby water-supply well fields. Knowledge of the ground-water flow within the river bend will be critical for assessing the future reliability and safety of the existing water supply, designing ground-water remediation strategies, and estimating the direction of ground-water flow with time.
The overall objective of this study is to characterize ground-water flow in the Missouri River alluvium in support of the Installation Restoration Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Specific objectives of the project are:
This study will help characterize the effect of stage fluctuations of large rivers on ground-water flow in their floodplains and will provide a greater understanding of the interaction between surface water, well pumping, and ground-water flow in large river systems. In addition, the information and analysis provided during this study will be critical to the success of the IRP activities in the Missouri River alluvial valley at Fort Leavenworth. Knowledge of the ground-water flow within the river bend will be critical for assessing the future reliability and safety of the existing water supply, determining the best location for new monitoring wells, designing ground-water remediation strategies, and estimating ground-water movement with time.
This study is funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Brian P. Kelly
U.S. Geological Survey
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Lee's Summit, Missouri 64086
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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