Wells check Main St. contamination
Staff writer
Groundwater in Marion may be contaminated by fuel in a larger area than was discovered in the 1990s, Kansas Department of Health and Environment fears.
Eight groundwater monitoring wells are being installed mainly along E. Main St. in Marion to determine the extent of contamination.
Field geologist Eldon Taskinen, supervising drilling, said the drilling project had been in the works for about a year.
Before drilling, GSI Engineering had to get permission from landowners to drill on their property or the city to drill on easements.
It takes about 3½ hours to drill a well, Taskinen said. The well is then capped.
A KDHE spokesman said the work is expected to last through the end of the week.
“This work was deemed necessary because groundwater monitoring data from Marion County highway department, a known site of a petroleum release from the 1990s, indicate there may be an additional source of petroleum groundwater contamination to the southwest of the highway department site,” KDHE environment communications manager Mitchell Osterlund said.
Cost of the drilling is covered by Kansas Storage Tank Trust Fund.
At one time, gasoline stations lined Main St., including 912, 1111, and 1220 E. Main St.
In 2020, monitoring wells also were drilled near the former site of a gas station at 1st and Main Sts.
Five wells were drilled in that area after excavation for a sidewalk revealed two degraded gasoline tanks from a 1930s gas station.
Soil adjacent to the tanks tested below contamination limits, but soil three feet below the tanks was contaminated.
Since contamination there was limited to a small area, the city was allowed to install a sidewalk over the spill.