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Water and soil samples at Pratt Regional Airport are the next step in efforts to convince the Army Corps of Engineers to follow through on a commitment to run a water line to the airport from Pratt.
If the samples don’t convince the Corps to go ahead and build the waterline, the Pratt Airport Authority is ready to seek help from the Kansas congressional delegation to get the matter settled, said Airport and Industrial Park Manager Reid Bell.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment took the samples as part of the evaluation process for carbon tetrachloride at the airport, which served as the Pratt Army Airfield from 1943 to 1946 and was the first B-29 training facility in the world.
The KDHE Bureau of Environmental Remediation took core samples of soil plus water samples from 60 feet down to determine the level of carbon tetrachloride contamination from the airfield during World War II.
Bell is hopeful the new samples will convince the Corps to go ahead and build the water line as originally promised.
“I’m happy about this (samples.) I think something will get done,” Bell said.
During World War II carbon tetrachloride was commonly used at the airport as a cleaning product, for fighting fires and other uses. It is the only source of carbon tetrachloride identified at the airport.
The Army Corps of Engineers had agreed to construct a water line from an existing city line to the airport as a way to solve the problem but later decided against the project.
“They told us they were committed to do this,” Bell said. “But six months later abandoned the project.”
The samples will help establish a link between the carbon tetrachloride and the airbase.
The Corps had agreed to do the project but assume no liability for the contamination and had assured the city funding was available.
The city had already paid for design and engineering on the project when the Corps backed out. Bell drafted a letter on behalf of the City Commissioners and sent it to the Commander of the Kansas City District of the Corps of Engineers about the matter. It informed the Corps that abandoning the project would create a hardship for the city because everything was ready.
Letters were also sent to Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Sen. Pat Roberts and Sen. Jerry Moran informing them of the situation.
Now the Airport Authority will wait to hear a response from the Corps about the issue.
Water and soil samples at Pratt Regional Airport are the next step in efforts to convince the Army Corps of Engineers to follow through on a commitment to run a water line to the airport from Pratt.
If the samples don’t convince the Corps to go ahead and build the waterline, the Pratt Airport Authority is ready to seek help from the Kansas congressional delegation to get the matter settled, said Airport and Industrial Park Manager Reid Bell.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment took the samples as part of the evaluation process for carbon tetrachloride at the airport, which served as the Pratt Army Airfield from 1943 to 1946 and was the first B-29 training facility in the world.
The KDHE Bureau of Environmental Remediation took core samples of soil plus water samples from 60 feet down to determine the level of carbon tetrachloride contamination from the airfield during World War II.
Bell is hopeful the new samples will convince the Corps to go ahead and build the water line as originally promised.
“I’m happy about this (samples.) I think something will get done,” Bell said.
During World War II carbon tetrachloride was commonly used at the airport as a cleaning product, for fighting fires and other uses. It is the only source of carbon tetrachloride identified at the airport.
The Army Corps of Engineers had agreed to construct a water line from an existing city line to the airport as a way to solve the problem but later decided against the project.
“They told us they were committed to do this,” Bell said. “But six months later abandoned the project.”
The samples will help establish a link between the carbon tetrachloride and the airbase.
The Corps had agreed to do the project but assume no liability for the contamination and had assured the city funding was available.
The city had already paid for design and engineering on the project when the Corps backed out. Bell drafted a letter on behalf of the City Commissioners and sent it to the Commander of the Kansas City District of the Corps of Engineers about the matter. It informed the Corps that abandoning the project would create a hardship for the city because everything was ready.
Letters were also sent to Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Sen. Pat Roberts and Sen. Jerry Moran informing them of the situation.
Now the Airport Authority will wait to hear a response from the Corps about the issue.
If the Corps does not go ahead with the project, Bell said he was ready to get congressional help from Huelskamp, Roberts and Moran to see the project completed.
KDHE had been at the airport a week earlier to use GPS to identify the specific locations for soil and water samples.
A similar problem existed at Salina at Schilling Airfield but on a much bigger scale because that water source supplied much of the water for Salina, Bell said.
Salina had to sue the Justice Department to finally get the issue settled after a 10-year battle. The Pratt Airport has been working on the problem since 2005.
The airport has two water wells. One is abandoned and the other has no levels of carbon tetrachloride at this time. It provides water for the water tower and public water.
The airport water also has a nitrate problem that is not associated with the airbase. Most businesses at the airport use bottled water to avoid the nitrate issue although the contamination levels are not an issue for healthy adults. The water line from the city would alleviate that issue as well.
