On September 1, I began serving on the Truax Field Remediation Advisory Board, which will consult and oversee the US Military’s efforts to clean up PFAS pollution at and downstream from Truax Field and the Dane County Regional Airport. This committee will serve as the connective tissue between the armed forces and impacted communities.
For years, firefighting teams at Truax Field used PFAS-containing firefighting foams for both training exercises and emergencies that seeped into the ground and our water. There are now alternatives to those foams that do not contain these harmful chemicals, and we have a heightened awareness of their health effects.
At the September meeting, we were briefed on this project’s progress through a multi-year process of identifying, defining the scope of, and ultimately remediating this environmental disaster. Well sampling and interviews with staff involved has provided a detailed sense of the large task in front of remediators. The project is now in the planning phase of how to best move forward with clean-up efforts.
These efforts are in addition to ongoing successful cleanup efforts funded by the County at the “Darwin” contamination site near Truax Field. Verona-based Orin Remediation Technologies is using electricity to aerate the soil, allowing a PFAS-consuming bacteria to digest these harmful chemicals. Once that process is complete, the electricity is switched off, and the bacteria die off. Preliminary numbers indicate a higher than 99% reduction in PFAS in the small pilot area. My hopes are that we can expand that program moving forward.
If you have any input on this project, the next meeting is planned for December 9th at 5:30 at Pinney Library. You could either provide your questions or comments to me, or attend in person or online. I will post more details as they become available.
