Navy officials report progress in grappling with the leak of petroleum-based fuel from old storage tanks at Naval Base Point Loma, although at least one environmental expert is voicing concern over potential new problems in the future.
Nearly a decade since the discovery of the so-called “fuel plume,” waste recovery efforts have so far achieved the ultimate goal ” preventing the fuel that has seeped into the ground from reaching San Diego Bay, according to Capt. Mark Patton, base commanding officer.
At the same time, monitoring wells have shown the fuel plume has extended farther to the southeast than originally thought, Patton said during a community meeting on Wednesday, May 9, on the base.
“It’s an active problem,” Patton said. “We’ve always known its going to be an active problem. We just have to stay on top of it.”
Navy officials have worked for years to reassure nearby residents that no health threat exists.
Patton said current strategies to contain the plume have been successful, with no indication of any contaminants moving north. The finger of the fuel plume found underneath one Point Loma residence just to the north of the base perimeter along Rosecrans Street also does not appear to be spreading, according to Patton. Environmental chemist John Adrianny, a Point Loma resident for more than 30 years, raised questions at the meeting over the possible danger of the planned trenching project that would run underground alongside the future fuel-storage facility slated to replace the old storage tanks.
“My biggest concern is that we don’t create unintended problems by what we do,” Adrianny said.
The trench is designed to catch any fuel product flowing downhill and allow it to be pumped out and cleaned before it reaches San Diego Bay, Patton said.
But Adrianny said he is concerned that as the trench provides a way to remove product contaminated water, it may give future spills a direct route to residents in the area.
The trench is part of the Milcon P-401 tank replacement project, which is in its final design phases, said Patton.
Construction should begin in fiscal year 2008 and involves the replacement of about 40 tanks built between 1932 and 1939.
The project calls for new tanks to be placed farther away from the northern property line and nearby residents, according to a community environmental newsletter given to the community liaison group.
“We see the project as linked, directly linked and”¦ as the ultimate solution,” Patton said.
The issue surfaced when groundwater-monitoring wells revealed the fuel plume in 2000, according to the newsletter.
An estimated total of 1.5 million gallons of fuel has leaked, Patton said, although it is impossible to know how much exactly is down there.
He said the continuous goal of the Navy has been to contain the plume and prevent it from traveling into the bay and moving toward residences, he said.