Plume Maps Trace Contours of AU Groundwater Contamination

 Kreeger Bldg. = 146 ppb in June 2007 (pg. 27)

 "Further planned groundwater study efforts include installation and sampling of the remaining 3 deep wells, quarterly sampling of selected wells for a time frame of 1 year, additional characterization of the perchlorate plume source on the AU campus using 15 temporary wells upgradient of the highest perchlorate concentrations to date, and isotopic analysis of perchlorate ... The 2007 and 2009 perchlorate contours are more complete due to more down-gradient groundwater sampling points, with the highest perchlorate concentrations of 146 ppb and 50 ppb, respectively, located at PZ-4 on the AU campus."

Kreeger Bldg. = 50 ppb in Nov. 2009 (pg. 27)

"Quarterly groundwater monitoring will be conducted during the next year to determine whether groundwater perchlorate concentrations change seasonally and whether any significant trends in perchlorate concentrations are associated with specific times of the year ... The temporary wells are specifically designed to pinpoint the location of a potential perchlorate source on the AU campus that requires further investigation. Sampling of these temporary wells may delineate a clear line between high and low perchlorate concentrations."
Todd Beckwith, USACE
Restoration Advisory Board Meeting
January 11, 2011

1st Peek at Dalecarlia Woods Will Dig up 700 Anomalies, 12 Trenches

During World War I, a sixty-two acre section of Dalecarlia Woods next to Washington DC's reservoir was the impact area (AOI 6) for Livens projectiles fired from the American University Experiment Station one mile to the east, as well as the location of a munitions burial pit (AOI 2) alongside a narrow gauge railway line that once extended there from AU.

North perimeter fence of federal property

Amid these steep wooded hills in coming weeks, the Corps of Engineers will begin an intrusive investigation of 700 single-point metallic anomalies and twelve possible munitions disposal trenches identified during the initial, 18-acre phase of their geophysical survey on the federal property.

North side of initial 18-acre intrusive investigation

Corps Begins Destroying WW I Munitions in Northwest DC

AP Photo

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to destroy a slew of World War I-era munitions uncovered during a cleanup of a northwest Washington neighborhood beginning next week, officials said Thursday. The Army Corps will use a detonation chamber near Sibley Memorial Hospital in the pricey Spring Valley neighborhood to dispose of about 100 munitions found buried in the yard of a home near American University, said project manager Todd Beckwith. The process begins next week and will cost about $500,000.
Brett Zonger
Associated Press
January 7, 2011

The main noise that will escape the site is the sound of each individual detonation, which Beckwith likened to a car's backfire lasting a fraction of a second 10 time a day ... [Spring Valley advisory neighborhood commissioner] Nan Wells said she still would have preferred to see the munitions taken out of Spring Valley to be destroyed. "I just think an abundance of caution is appropriate, and nothing is fail-safe that has people involved."
Brady Holt
Northwest Current
January 12, 2011