AFMC Command News

Monitoring water flow, an important part of environmental management

  • Published
  • By Ted Theopolos
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Wright-Patterson's Environmental Management Division ensures water discharging from the base into local waterways remains within national discharge pollutant standards.

Wright-Patterson AFB, along with the City of Dayton, is located over a sand gravel aquifer known as the Great Miami Buried Aquifer, which holds more than one trillion gallons of water. Releasing water through the improper drainage system could potentially contaminate the aquifer which provides 97 percent of the drinking water to more than 900,000 residents.

"It's important that the water is discharged into the proper drainage system on base," said Zach Olds, water quality program manager in the Environmental Management Division.

Storm water disbursement is the largest issue for discharging water from the base. To understand the amount of water the base deals with, think of this: The annual precipitation for the base is 38.4 inches per year. That precipitation produces an average runoff of 3,346,000,000 gallons of water. Overall, the base receives enough water in a month that if placed in gallon milk jugs side by side could cross the U.S. 8.8 times.

The base has made significant infrastructure improvements to the drainage system over the past several years to protect the aquifer.

"Some of the water projects started back in 2002," said Mr. Olds. "The base has invested close to $9 million to improve the sanitary to storm sewer cross-connections. These cross-connections create a potential compliance burden as well as an excessive volume of waste water on the Publically Owned Treatment Works. The project is still underway but all of the cross-connection aside from three have been fixed.  The project is estimated to last till the end of summer.

Storm water drainage from construction sites is another protocol the Environmental Management Division contends with. Construction activities such as clearing, excavating and grading significantly disturb soil and sediment. If that soil is not managed properly, it can easily be discharged off of the construction site during storms and may pollute nearby bodies of water.

In February 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will issueda new ruling on water pollution from construction sites. The new rules require construction sites disturbing an acre or more of land to implement best management practices.  Additionally, construction sites disturbing more than 10 acres will be required to monitor water discharging from the site.

"Wright-Patt is ahead of the game," said Mark Mays, chief of the Environmental Management Division. "The base has done such a good job on construction projects that Ohio EPA cited the base as a model site in July 2009."

Construction sites on base utilize multiple methods to prevent erosion by installing temporary erosion controls such as silt fence, inlet protection, rock check dams, gravel construction entrances and soil stabilization.  BMP methods include mulching, temporary seeding and permanent seeding.

The base also has several methods in place to help prevent contaminants and pollutants from being released to the environment. Oil water separators and secondary containment basins are strategically placed throughout the installation to prevent fuels or petroleum products from going down the drain. The separators and basins are routinely inspected and cleaned by a licensed company.

The base manages storm water with 8.25 miles of open drainage ditches, 47 miles of storm sewer drain pipe, and approximately 2,000 catch basins labeled with green fish stickers. Water outfalls are regularly inspected and sampled for contaminates prior to draining into local water ways which in turn helps replenish the aquifer.