Firm looks at gasoline remediation using village land

• Remediation could run three to five years to complete

An arrangement to handle contamination from a previous gasoline operation at what is now Chisum’s gas station and convenience store in Alto isn’t ideal, but probably the best way to ensure no spread occurs toward Ruidoso’s wells on Eagle Creek, village officials say.

“We’re real protective of that whole area of our watershed over there,” Mayor Lynn Crawford told Tom Golden, an engineer with Daniel B. Stephens & Associates Inc., the firm selected by the Petroleum Storage Tank Bureau to remediate hydrocarbon contamination at the site about 4,000 feet north of the creek at 101 Sun Valley Road.

Councilors approved allowing the firm access to village property near the former storage area to determine the feasibility of the plan to discharge on the land over a three to five-year period.

“It’s not exactly ideal,” village water management director Eric Boyda told councilors at their meeting last week. “I understand the concern about discharge so close to wells, but the contamination already is there. It’s important to be good neighbors and help the process along before contaminants move closer to Eagle Creek and our wells.”

Village Manager Debi Lee said with the approval vote councilors only are concurring with the concept. Details of what will be done on the land will be incorporated into a final agreement brought back to the council for a vote.

“It will come back after they do their research and we’ll make final decision,” Crawford said. He asked if the village would be compensated for use of the land as usually occurs when trash compactors or other apparatus is placed on village property.

Golden said he was not aware of any compensation, but the process would be done at no cost to the village. The mayor replied there shouldn’t be a cost to the village, because ‘It’s not our mess.”

Councilor Tim Coughlin said, “It has to be done, no matter where and how.”

The tank system at the site was replaced by the current owner, but gasoline and diesel contamination remain that were the result of normal operation by the former operator, according to the staff memorandum that continued, “The intended remedial technology will remove hydrocarbon and some contaminated groundwater, which will be treated onsite. The system is expected to operate for three to five years, 24-hours a day.”

“We’re talking a relatively small discharge volume from 1,000 to 1,500 gallons per day,” Golden said. “We will be discharging year-round. The goal is to remove contamination and to monitor water quality regularly. A fund was established specifically to deal with these clean ups. I’ve been working with (Public Works Director J. R. Baumann and Boyda). It would be ideal to do it onsite,” but two septic systems and an oil concentrate discharge pond already in place prevent them from discharging water outside.

The Alto Reservoir is not an option and dispersing treated water at Eagle Creek Sports Complex could not occur in winter, which would limit days, Golden said. Councilor Rifle Salas said he preferred the ballfield site, but Golden said using repurposed water on the fields would become a water rights issue, while putting it directly back into the ground “is a lot cleaner solution from that angle.”

“We looked at different village-owned property and settled on the one south of Brewer gas station and north of Eagle Creek,” Golden said, explaining that perforated pipes would be installed below ground surface and out of sight. The authorization granted last week allows the firm to investigate the site more closely, look at soil types and perform percolation tests, while establishing surface elevations. The direction of underground flow is complicated and must be determined, he said. Two geological features contain the contamination onsite and prevent it from migrating further east and southeast.

About three or four months after the remediation is completed, the firm will either grout in the pipes or remove them, depending on staff recommendations, Golden said.

Councilors asked about other options, but Golden said, “This is by far the best. The adjacent land would have been great, but it was sold last year by the village.”