Flood raises questions at Rocky FlatsLike the rest of the region, the rain started soaking into the ground at Rocky Flats on Monday, Sept. 9. By the following Wednesday night, the ground was fully saturated and the flooding began in earnest, with runoff from the hills, gullies and holding ponds at the site, filling North and South Walnut Creeks as well as Woman Creek beyond their capacities.
As the water finally began to recede, the debris caught in the fences above the usual creek banks bore witness to the unprecedented water levels that had swept through the area between Wednesday night and Saturday morning.
The water washing across the four square miles of land at Rocky Flats had raced down the creeks and dry washes and off the property towards the lakes and housing additions to the east, closing Indiana Avenue and raising concerns and more than a few questions.
Was there contamination in the floodwater and, if so, what kind and at what levels? And is the threat of contamination spreading due to the rains now over?
At least some of the answers to these questions will likely come sometime around Oct. 11, when the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) estimates that it will get back test results from two labs that examined samples from the 10 surface-water monitoring stations at the Flats, most of which are located along the Walnut and Woman creeks. But will these test results answer all the questions being raised? Considering the long history of Rocky Flats and the ongoing, 30-plus years of controversy surrounding its contamination and cleanup, it seems unlikely.
Rocky Flats is a former nuclear weapons production facility just south of Boulder that operated from 1952 to 1992.
At one time, prior to its closure and remediation, the former plant and the lands surrounding it were considered one of the most contaminated places in the world. The area’s ground and surface waters are still being monitored today for radiation, and there are measurable levels of plutonium, Americium and uranium in some locations at the site that exceed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
Other contaminants at the Flats include PCBs and carcinogenic BTEX contaminants, named for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.
In addition, groundwater recovery systems designed to capture uranium and nitrate contamination that has leaked into groundwater are in place to strip out the contamination before allowing the groundwater to be released into the area’s creeks and lakes.
More at:http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-11755-flood-raises-questions-at-rocky-flats.html
