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Title: Technical justification for a request to reclassify the former CCC/USDA facility at Canada, Kansas.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/925376· OSTI ID:925376

Contamination in groundwater at Canada, Kansas, was discovered in 1997, during limited private well sampling near former grain storage facilities of the Commodity Credit Corporation, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA). Subsequent investigations by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) confirmed carbon tetrachloride and nitrate concentrations in groundwater above the respective maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) of 5.0 {micro}g/L and 10.0 mg/L. The KDHE investigations identified both the former CCC/USDA grain storage facility and a private grain storage facility as likely sources for the carbon tetrachloride contamination. The CCC/USDA funded extension of a rural water district line to provide a permanent alternate water supply, and the KDHE has conducted long-term monitoring under the State Water Plan. This document presents an analysis of the available information for the Canada site, acquired in previous investigations and the long-term KDHE monitoring. This analysis forms the technical justification for a request to reclassify the former CCC/USDA grain storage facility at Canada as a site requiring no further action under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the KDHE and the USDA's Farm Service Agency. The KDHE's long-term water level monitoring results indicate a consistent groundwater flow direction to the east-southeast. Consequently, the wells with the highest overall concentrations of carbon tetrachloride are downgradient from the private grain storage facility but not downgradient from the former CCC/USDA facility. The KDHE criterion for reclassification of a site is that contamination there should not pose an unacceptable risk, on the basis of analytical results for four consecutive, equally timed, sequenced sampling episodes over a period of no less than two years. In seven KDHE sampling events over a period of six years (2001-2007), the concentrations of carbon tetrachloride in the monitoring well on the former CCC/USDA property at Canada have ranged from 0.63 {micro}g/L to 2.9 {micro}g/L. These seven results are all below the MCL of 5.0 {micro}g/L, and they demonstrate that groundwater on the former CCC/USDA property has met the standard for carbon tetrachloride in drinking water since 2001 and does not pose a significant human health threat. Except for a two-year interval between sampling events in December 2003 and December 2005, the monitoring occurred at approximately annual intervals. The results warrant a request for reclassification of the Canada site to Resolved status on the KDHE's Identified Sites List, under Section III (Other Considerations) of KDHE policy BER-RS-024, Rev. 2001.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDA
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
925376
Report Number(s):
ANL/EVS/AGEM/TR-07-01; TRN: US200809%%676
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH