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NPL Site Narrative for Fort Riley
FORT RILEY
Junction City, Kansas
Federal Register Notice: August 30, 1990
Conditions at proposal (July 14, 1989): Fort Riley is near Junction City, Kansas, north of where the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers meet to form the Kansas River. Most of the 152-square-mile Army base is in Riley County, with the remainder in Geary County. The majority of the developed areas are in the southern portion, along the Republican and Kansas Rivers. The area around the fort is predominantly rural and agricultural.
Established in 1853, Fort Riley was a major fort in this area during the Civil War. It is currently the headquarters of the U.S. Army First Infantry Division (mechanized) and host to over a dozen other units of the Department of Defense. There are six main centers of activity in Fort Riley. Camp Forsyth is on the floodplain of the Republican River, immediately north of Junction City. Camp Funston is on the floodplain of the Kansas River, immediately west of the Town of Ogden. Camp Whitside is on the Kansas River floodplain just west of Camp Funston. The Main Post is on the edge of the Kansas River floodplain across from Marshall Air Field. Custer Hill is in the upland several miles north of the Kansas River.
Operations on the facility have been varied, including seven landfills, numerous motor pools, burn and firefighting pit areas, hospitals, dry cleaning shops, and pesticide storage and mixing areas. Vinyl chloride, pesticides, waste motor oils, degreasing solvents, tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), and mercury were deposited in landfills below the water table and spilled or dumped on the ground adjacent to buildings. The most serious problems are associated with a sanitary landfill at Camp Funston, spills of dry cleaning solvents at the Main Post, and pesticide residues, also at the Main Post.
Fort Riley is participating in the Installation Restoration Program (IRP), established in 1978. Under this program, the Department of Defense seeks to identify, investigate, and clean up contamination from hazardous materials. A 1984 IRP study indicates that vinyl chloride is present in shallow (15-25 foot) monitoring wells downgradient of the Camp Funston landfill. The alluvial aquifer along the Republican and Kansas Rivers is the sole source of drinking water for Fort Riley, Ogden, and Junction City.
A Fort Riley water supply well is 0.7 mile from a former dry cleaning building. Municipal and Army wells within 3 miles of hazardous substances on the base provide drinking water to an estimated 46,800 people. Ground water is also used locally for irrigation.
The Kansas River along Fort Riley is used for fishing and other recreational activities. Bald eagles, designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species, are seen regularly on the base.
Status (August 30, 1990): EPA, the Army, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) are negotiating an Interagency Agreement under CERCLA Section 120. The agreement will require the Army to submit schedules for all activities and provides for EPA and KDHE oversight of these activities.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.