A sand and gravel aquifer about 65 feet thick underlies Wurtsmith Air Force Base in northeastern lower Michigan. The water table ranges in depth from 10 feet to 25 feet below land surface. Mathematical models indicate that ground-water flow ranges from 0.8 feet per day in the eastern part of the Base to 0.3 feet per day in the western part. Trichlorethylene leaked from a buried storage tank in the southeastern part of the Base and moved northeastward in a plume, contaminating Base water-supply wells. Concentrations exceed 1,000 micrograms per liter in the most highly contaminated part of the plume. Purge pumping removed some of the trichloroethylene and seems to have arrested its eastward movement. Pumping of additional purge wells could increase the rate of removal. (USGS)
RECORD ID: 8403859
F&G CODE: 05b
Publication
Stark, J.R., Cummings, T.R., and Twenter, F.R., 1983, Ground-water contamination
at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Michigan: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources
Investigations Report 83-4002, 93 p.
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