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Water Quality

Independent Studies

Review by Dr. Kerry Howe of the Proposed BDD Water Treatment Process for Removal of Contaminants

In late 2007, the BDD contracted with Kerry J. Howe, Ph.D., P.E. to perform an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the proposed BDD City/County Water Treatment Plant, as designed, in removing radiological and other specific contaminants of concern associated with waste discharges from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). A draft of the report was delivered to the BDD Board at its February meeting for review. The final report was issued in April 2008.

Dr. Howe’s report was prepared independent of, and completely separate from, outside influences such as staff from the City of Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, LANL, the New Mexico Environment Department or the Owner’s Agency (CDM, Inc.).

A summary of Dr. Howe’s findings in the report included:

A study of data dating from the 1970s to 2000-2001 based on water sampling from the Rio Grande in and around the area of the planned BDD diversion facility (and in the LANL watershed) in terms of levels of certain contaminants measured in that water, including:

Uranium
Plutonium
Americium
Cesium
Radium
Strontium
Tritium
Perchlorate
Chromium
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

The evidence indicates the proposed City/County Water Treatment Plant will be able to reliably provide water that meets all drinking water regulations with respect to these contaminants. This reliability results from a three-tiered barrier:

  1. concentrations in the river that are nearly always below regulated levels;
  2. an operational strategy that can prevent water possibly containing higher levels of contaminants from entering the plant; and
  3. a robust treatment process that removes or could be modified to remove all the contaminants of interest.

For a full copy of the final report, click here.

Los Alamos National Laboratory Legacy Contaminant Study at the Buckman Direct Diversion

In August 2008, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released its final report entitled Los Alamos National Laboratory Legacy Contaminant Study at the Buckman Direct Diversion. The report was based on the characteristics of the sediments encountered in 11 boreholes as interpreted to be conclusive, even without laboratory results.
The report found that BDD construction is not expected to disturb the discrete package of sediments that filled the abandoned river channel during the 1950s and 1960s and that contain elevated but low levels of LANL legacy contaminants. The sediments in the area to be disturbed by construction contain contaminants that are either below the limit of detection or are indistinguishable from background.

The BDD Board arranged and paid for drilling services costing approximately $4,000. NMED provided expert professional services of its staff and paid approximately $15,000 laboratory analysis.

For a summary memo on the report from BDD Board Consultant Norman Gaume, PE, click here. For a copy of the full report, click here. For a copy of the press release issued by the New Mexico Department of Energy, click here.