ST018 - North/South Gas Stations

Horizontal Drill Rig Installs Piping for ST018 Extraction System



Solar Panels Power Two ST018 Groundwater Pumps

The North/South Gas Stations are located on opposite sides of Travis Avenue, directly across from one another and adjacent to site FT002. Both gas stations are active facilities. Leaking underground storage tanks and associated pipelines have been replaced in several renovation efforts. Fuel products have leaked into and contaminated the subsurface soil and groundwater with benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE). The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board is the lead oversight agency for this petroleum-only contaminated site (POCOS).

Although natural attenuation is the presumptive remedy for petroleum sites, MTBE is mobile in groundwater and not readily degraded.  To clean up the MTBE plume, the Air Force built a new groundwater extraction and treatment system in 2011 as described in the Site ST018 Corrective Action Plan.  A horizontal drill rig was used to install the pipes between three extraction wells and the treatment plant, avoiding damage to asphalt, concrete and landscaping.  Three solar panels provide the power to run the pumps, and battery assemblies allow the system to run at night.  Extracted groundwater is treated at the Site ST018 Groundwater Treatment Plant.  Routine operation and maintenance of the treatment system and monitoring of the final groundwater remedy is ongoing.