Site Report: Tanana City Drinking Water Well

Site Name:	Tanana City Drinking Water Well
Address:	Tanana, Tanana, AK 99777
File Number:	780.38.004
Hazard ID:	2648
Status:	Informational
Staff:	Janice Wiegers, 9074512127 janice.wiegers@alaska.gov
Latitude:	65.170370
Longitude:	-152.079500
Horizontal Datum:	NAD27

We make every effort to ensure the data presented here is accurate based on the best available information currently on file with DEC. It is therefore subject to change as new information becomes available. We recommend contacting the assigned project staff prior to making decisions based on this information.

Site Chronology
IC / Closure Details
Documents
Associated Sites

Problems/Comments

Increasing concentrations of benzene were measured in drinking water supply wells beginning in 1992. Benzene concentrations below maximum cleanup levels (MCLs). Extent and source of contamination is unknown. Antimony near MCL and residual range organics (RRO) 1/10 Table C value detected in one water sample collected from Tanana Tribal Council municipal drinking water well in August 2001 by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund Technical Assessment & Response Team Contracts (START) program. There have been no detections of benzene during recent sampling events including 2010, 2012, 2014. This well is identified as Too'gha Inc. well in the Drinking Water Watch (AK2360109). Source of contamination detected in 1992 was not identified, although several nearby properties were suspect. Also see file number 780.07.001.

Action Information

Action Date	Action	Description	DEC Staff
11/26/1996	Site Added to Database	Benzene contamination of drinking water well.	Laura Noland
11/26/1996	Site Ranked Using the AHRM	Initial ranking.	Laura Noland
4/27/2000	Update or Other Action	Updated physical file (including Fairbanks file contents) is located in Anchorage office.	Shah Alam
4/28/2000	Update or Other Action	Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) letter issued to Don Eller (Tanana Power Company).	Shah Alam
5/5/2000	Update or Other Action	ADEC received a letter dated May 2, 2000 from the Tanana Power Company (Don Eller). The company strongly objects that it is even considered a PRP. The company stated that benzene is found in gasoline not in diesel and that they operated only with diesel. The company also requested all relevant information.	Shah Alam
6/15/2000	Meeting or Teleconference Held	Staff visited (June 13-15, 2000) Tanana City Drinking Water Wells contaminated site and possible sources of contamination. Staff attended a public meeting with participants representing Tanana Tribal Council, Tanana City, Toogha Inc., Tozitna Corp, Tanana Power Company, ADEC and U.S. Public Health Service. Staff responded to questions on possible sources of contamination and responsible party status. Staff also met Tanana Power Company separately and visited their and other properties where spills might have occurred. Tanana Power Company contended that they were not a responsible party for contaminating the City Wells.	Shah Alam
6/27/2000	Update or Other Action	ADEC responded to the Tanana Power Company stating that Benzene was present in diesel. Also forwarded information regarding 1969-spill in lot 8 at the intersection of the First Street and the Hill Street.	Shah Alam
1/22/2001	Update or Other Action	ADEC sent letters to the following about a proposed area-wide assessment to determine the source or sources for the benzene in the historical city wells and the new Too'gha well: City of Tanana, Tanana Power Company, Tozitna Limited, Doyon, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Tanana Tribal Council, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, & Representative Carl Morgan. There are numerous allegations & hearsay concerning the sources of the contamination. The purpose of the area-wide assessment is to investigate all suspect properties to document any soil contamination. Initial suspect properties are based on allegations or historical use of the property in conjunction with limited groundwater flow information. Initial suspect properties are: City Shop North of Third; City Waste Water Lagoon North of Third; Tanana Power Company, shop north of third, pipeline from barge staging area, and Lot 8, Block10; Tozitna Lot 7, Block 11; BLM Lot 3, USS 4104, and City Fire Station north of second.	Douglas Bauer
2/2/2001	Update or Other Action	Response received from Tanana Power Company. Yukon Fuel owns pipeline from barge staging area on the Yukon to power facility. Lots 10 and 11, Block 9 (near city well field) were used historically by a gasoline and diesel distributor. The barge staging area (nearby and up river from the city well field) is the site of numerous spills from off loading operations. The streets of Tanana were historically oiled for dust control.	Douglas Bauer
2/20/2001	Update or Other Action	ADEC proposed area wide assessment letter sent to Kathleen Peter-Zuray with Tanana Tribal Council.	Douglas Bauer
3/6/2001	Update or Other Action	ADEC proposed area-wide assessment letter sent to Mr. Jack Coghill former operator on USS 4104, Lot 3.	Douglas Bauer
4/12/2001	Meeting or Teleconference Held	Meeting with Betsy Bonnel with BLM and Mr. Jack Coghill former site operator. Discussed drinking water contamination, site assessments, and cleanup for Lot 3 USS 4104.	Douglas Bauer
8/13/2001	Preliminary Assessment Approved	EPA Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) file review and site inspection with environmental coordinator Herbie Edwin 8/13/2001. Surface and boring soil samples and on-site DW well water samples collected for lab analysis.	Bruce Wanstall
12/26/2001	Update or Other Action	Received an email from Herbie Edwin with attached Tanana Multi-Agency Environmental Cleanup and Assessment Proposal and memorandum of agreement. Forwarded to J. Carnahan.	Douglas Bauer
3/6/2002	Update or Other Action	Two responses received from Tozitna Limited: one letter dealing with Lot 7, Block 11 that they own and the other letter listing suspected sites. Suspected sites: Lot 7, Block 9 where a fork lift punctured two 55 gallon drums in 1967/1968; Former site of Northern Commercial Company (fuel storage and power plant) on the bank of Yukon across from Lot 1, Block 10 on Front street; Lot 8, Block 10 with a ruptured 10,000 gallon fuel tank owned by Tanana Power Company, also supposedly affected lots 4, 5, 6 and 7; lot 3 of USS 4104 former site of Nenana Fuel Company operated by Jack Coghill; Lot 5, Block 8 Tanana Commercial Company (down river from well field; Lot 6, Block 10 where numerous 55 gallon barrels are stored by the late Morris Thompson.	Douglas Bauer
3/8/2002	Update or Other Action	Forwarded Herbie Edwin 12/26/01 email to Director Mike Conway.	Douglas Bauer
3/16/2002	Update or Other Action	Preliminary research indicates the following are landowners for the lots identified in Tozitna letter: Lot 10E, Block 9 Mitchells; Lot 10W, Block 9 Episcopal Diocese; Lot 11, Block 9 Peters; Lot 6, Block 9 Thompson; Lot 7, Block 9 Grasso; Lot 1E, Block 10 Howard Rock; Lot 1W, Block 10 Mogg. Area-wide assessment letter sent to Robert & Elaine Mitchell and Helen Sarah Peters since they were the only ones with readily available mailing addresses. A land ownership survey conducted for the Village Safe Water program indicates that ownership of some parcels could be questionable.	Douglas Bauer
3/21/2002	Update or Other Action	Email to Herbie Edwin advising him to send area-wide proposal and MOA to Commissioner Brown.	Douglas Bauer
9/12/2002	Update or Other Action	Advised EPA's Site Assessment contractor Callie A. Riodolfi, Riodolfi Engineering, in a telephone conversation that ADEC has a considerable file on Tanana that they may want to review and consider prior to publishing a report.	Douglas Bauer
1/9/2003	Update or Other Action	Cleanup Plan received from BLM for Lot 3, USS 4104.	Douglas Bauer
8/4/2005	Update or Other Action	Telephone conversation with Dave Neiman an environmental consutant based in Anchorage.	Douglas Bauer
8/26/2005	Update or Other Action	Received report from PERP; DRO contamination found during excavation of a trench for a new sewer main near 2nd and Hill Street. Approximately 400 cubic yards of soil stockpiled about 25' from the city water treatment plant. The trench was poorly characterized, but one hot spot contained 20,000 mg/kg DRO.	Kim DeRuyter
10/19/2005	Update or Other Action	Received stockpile sample results, 5 samples were taken, only one sample result was above cleanup levels, DRO 1240 mg/kg. No PAH, or BETX analytes were detected above PQLs. Approved landspreading of the stockpile out of town away from wells and surface water. Requested a map of the landspread area for the file.	Kim DeRuyter
3/20/2008	Exposure Tracking Model Ranking	Initial ranking with ETM completed.	Tamara Cardona-Marek
2/17/2009	Update or Other Action	Lat-Lon updated.	Tamara Cardona-Marek
5/26/2009	Update or Other Action	DEC received approval to conduct an environmental management plan (EMP) for Tanana. The EMP will include evaluating all environmental concerns in the community including the impacted community drinking water well. The purpose of this effort is to establish a coordinated manner in which to effectively oversee and manage environmental actions at multiple sites in Tanana. The project will include reviewing historical property use; documenting environmental work that has been completed to date in and around the community and summarizing proposed remedial actions; and making recommendations for assessment or cleanup action at sites that are not currently being evaluated. For more information, please reference 780.57.002.	Deborah Williams
4/30/2010	Update or Other Action	An Environmental Management Plan was submitted by SLR and funded through the ADEC Reuse and Redevelopment Initiative. Historical records research and a site visit identified several potential sources of spills and releases that could be affecting groundwater in the vicinity of the public drinking water wells. These potential sources included the former Ft. Gibbon tank farm, the former Ft. Gibbon wood-stave tank farm, and a former gasoline drum storage area. The former gasoline drum storage area reportedly held more than 200 drums and on at least one occasion several drums were punctured by a fork lift. The former gasoline drum storage area is located about 100 feet northwest of the drinking water wells.	Janice Wiegers
9/15/2010	Update or Other Action	Tanana drinking water well Toogha Well #3 was sampled in June 2010 pre-treatment for BTEX. All analytes were non-detect.	Tamara Cardona-Marek
6/26/2012	Exposure Tracking Model Ranking	A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 73624 contaminated drinking water well.	Tamara Cardona-Marek
7/28/2014	Update or Other Action	Most recent drinking water well sample collected in June 2014 showed no VOC detections.	Tamara Cardona-Marek
7/29/2014	Update or Other Action	Site status changed to Informational. There is no known source of contamination at this site and no documented releases. The contamination previously present in the well has not been detected in recent years.	Bill O'Connell

Action Date

Action

Description

DEC Staff

11/26/1996

Site Added to Database

Benzene contamination of drinking water well.

Laura Noland

11/26/1996

Site Ranked Using the AHRM

Initial ranking.

Laura Noland

4/27/2000

Update or Other Action

Updated physical file (including Fairbanks file contents) is located in Anchorage office.

Shah Alam

4/28/2000

Update or Other Action

Potentially Responsible Party (PRP) letter issued to Don Eller (Tanana Power Company).

Shah Alam

5/5/2000

Update or Other Action

ADEC received a letter dated May 2, 2000 from the Tanana Power Company (Don Eller). The company strongly objects that it is even considered a PRP. The company stated that benzene is found in gasoline not in diesel and that they operated only with diesel. The company also requested all relevant information.

Shah Alam

6/15/2000

Meeting or Teleconference Held

Staff visited (June 13-15, 2000) Tanana City Drinking Water Wells contaminated site and possible sources of contamination. Staff attended a public meeting with participants representing Tanana Tribal Council, Tanana City, Toogha Inc., Tozitna Corp, Tanana Power Company, ADEC and U.S. Public Health Service. Staff responded to questions on possible sources of contamination and responsible party status. Staff also met Tanana Power Company separately and visited their and other properties where spills might have occurred. Tanana Power Company contended that they were not a responsible party for contaminating the City Wells.

Shah Alam

6/27/2000

Update or Other Action

ADEC responded to the Tanana Power Company stating that Benzene was present in diesel. Also forwarded information regarding 1969-spill in lot 8 at the intersection of the First Street and the Hill Street.

Shah Alam

1/22/2001

Update or Other Action

ADEC sent letters to the following about a proposed area-wide assessment to determine the source or sources for the benzene in the historical city wells and the new Too'gha well: City of Tanana, Tanana Power Company, Tozitna Limited, Doyon, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Tanana Tribal Council, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, & Representative Carl Morgan. There are numerous allegations & hearsay concerning the sources of the contamination. The purpose of the area-wide assessment is to investigate all suspect properties to document any soil contamination. Initial suspect properties are based on allegations or historical use of the property in conjunction with limited groundwater flow information. Initial suspect properties are: City Shop North of Third; City Waste Water Lagoon North of Third; Tanana Power Company, shop north of third, pipeline from barge staging area, and Lot 8, Block10; Tozitna Lot 7, Block 11; BLM Lot 3, USS 4104, and City Fire Station north of second.

Douglas Bauer

2/2/2001

Update or Other Action

Response received from Tanana Power Company. Yukon Fuel owns pipeline from barge staging area on the Yukon to power facility. Lots 10 and 11, Block 9 (near city well field) were used historically by a gasoline and diesel distributor. The barge staging area (nearby and up river from the city well field) is the site of numerous spills from off loading operations. The streets of Tanana were historically oiled for dust control.

Douglas Bauer

2/20/2001

Update or Other Action

ADEC proposed area wide assessment letter sent to Kathleen Peter-Zuray with Tanana Tribal Council.

Douglas Bauer

3/6/2001

Update or Other Action

ADEC proposed area-wide assessment letter sent to Mr. Jack Coghill former operator on USS 4104, Lot 3.

Douglas Bauer

4/12/2001

Meeting or Teleconference Held

Meeting with Betsy Bonnel with BLM and Mr. Jack Coghill former site operator. Discussed drinking water contamination, site assessments, and cleanup for Lot 3 USS 4104.

Douglas Bauer

8/13/2001

Preliminary Assessment Approved

EPA Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START) file review and site inspection with environmental coordinator Herbie Edwin 8/13/2001. Surface and boring soil samples and on-site DW well water samples collected for lab analysis.

Bruce Wanstall

12/26/2001

Update or Other Action

Received an email from Herbie Edwin with attached Tanana Multi-Agency Environmental Cleanup and Assessment Proposal and memorandum of agreement. Forwarded to J. Carnahan.

Douglas Bauer

3/6/2002

Update or Other Action

Two responses received from Tozitna Limited: one letter dealing with Lot 7, Block 11 that they own and the other letter listing suspected sites. Suspected sites: Lot 7, Block 9 where a fork lift punctured two 55 gallon drums in 1967/1968; Former site of Northern Commercial Company (fuel storage and power plant) on the bank of Yukon across from Lot 1, Block 10 on Front street; Lot 8, Block 10 with a ruptured 10,000 gallon fuel tank owned by Tanana Power Company, also supposedly affected lots 4, 5, 6 and 7; lot 3 of USS 4104 former site of Nenana Fuel Company operated by Jack Coghill; Lot 5, Block 8 Tanana Commercial Company (down river from well field; Lot 6, Block 10 where numerous 55 gallon barrels are stored by the late Morris Thompson.

Douglas Bauer

3/8/2002

Update or Other Action

Forwarded Herbie Edwin 12/26/01 email to Director Mike Conway.

Douglas Bauer

3/16/2002

Update or Other Action

Preliminary research indicates the following are landowners for the lots identified in Tozitna letter: Lot 10E, Block 9 Mitchells; Lot 10W, Block 9 Episcopal Diocese; Lot 11, Block 9 Peters; Lot 6, Block 9 Thompson; Lot 7, Block 9 Grasso; Lot 1E, Block 10 Howard Rock; Lot 1W, Block 10 Mogg. Area-wide assessment letter sent to Robert & Elaine Mitchell and Helen Sarah Peters since they were the only ones with readily available mailing addresses. A land ownership survey conducted for the Village Safe Water program indicates that ownership of some parcels could be questionable.

Douglas Bauer

3/21/2002

Update or Other Action

Email to Herbie Edwin advising him to send area-wide proposal and MOA to Commissioner Brown.

Douglas Bauer

9/12/2002

Update or Other Action

Advised EPA's Site Assessment contractor Callie A. Riodolfi, Riodolfi Engineering, in a telephone conversation that ADEC has a considerable file on Tanana that they may want to review and consider prior to publishing a report.

Douglas Bauer

1/9/2003

Update or Other Action

Cleanup Plan received from BLM for Lot 3, USS 4104.

Douglas Bauer

8/4/2005

Update or Other Action

Telephone conversation with Dave Neiman an environmental consutant based in Anchorage.

Douglas Bauer

8/26/2005

Update or Other Action

Received report from PERP; DRO contamination found during excavation of a trench for a new sewer main near 2nd and Hill Street. Approximately 400 cubic yards of soil stockpiled about 25' from the city water treatment plant. The trench was poorly characterized, but one hot spot contained 20,000 mg/kg DRO.

Kim DeRuyter

10/19/2005

Update or Other Action

Received stockpile sample results, 5 samples were taken, only one sample result was above cleanup levels, DRO 1240 mg/kg. No PAH, or BETX analytes were detected above PQLs. Approved landspreading of the stockpile out of town away from wells and surface water. Requested a map of the landspread area for the file.

Kim DeRuyter

3/20/2008

Exposure Tracking Model Ranking

Initial ranking with ETM completed.

Tamara Cardona-Marek

2/17/2009

Update or Other Action

Lat-Lon updated.

Tamara Cardona-Marek

5/26/2009

Update or Other Action

DEC received approval to conduct an environmental management plan (EMP) for Tanana. The EMP will include evaluating all environmental concerns in the community including the impacted community drinking water well. The purpose of this effort is to establish a coordinated manner in which to effectively oversee and manage environmental actions at multiple sites in Tanana. The project will include reviewing historical property use; documenting environmental work that has been completed to date in and around the community and summarizing proposed remedial actions; and making recommendations for assessment or cleanup action at sites that are not currently being evaluated. For more information, please reference 780.57.002.

Deborah Williams

4/30/2010

Update or Other Action

An Environmental Management Plan was submitted by SLR and funded through the ADEC Reuse and Redevelopment Initiative. Historical records research and a site visit identified several potential sources of spills and releases that could be affecting groundwater in the vicinity of the public drinking water wells. These potential sources included the former Ft. Gibbon tank farm, the former Ft. Gibbon wood-stave tank farm, and a former gasoline drum storage area. The former gasoline drum storage area reportedly held more than 200 drums and on at least one occasion several drums were punctured by a fork lift. The former gasoline drum storage area is located about 100 feet northwest of the drinking water wells.

Janice Wiegers

9/15/2010

Update or Other Action

Tanana drinking water well Toogha Well #3 was sampled in June 2010 pre-treatment for BTEX. All analytes were non-detect.

Tamara Cardona-Marek

6/26/2012

Exposure Tracking Model Ranking

A new updated ranking with ETM has been completed for source area 73624 contaminated drinking water well.

Tamara Cardona-Marek

7/28/2014

Update or Other Action

Most recent drinking water well sample collected in June 2014 showed no VOC detections.

Tamara Cardona-Marek

7/29/2014

Update or Other Action

Site status changed to Informational. There is no known source of contamination at this site and no documented releases. The contamination previously present in the well has not been detected in recent years.

Bill O'Connell

Contaminant Information

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Comments

Control Type

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Description

Details

There are no documents for this site report.

No associated sites were found.

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Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Site Report: Tanana City Drinking Water Well

Site Chronology

IC / Closure Details

Documents

Associated Sites

Problems/Comments

Action Information

Contaminant Information

Control Type

Requirements

Missing Location Data

State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation