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Robins Air Force Base

Robins Air Force Base
EPA ID: GA1570024330
Location: Warner Robins, Houston County, GA
Congressional District: 08
NPL Status: Proposed: 10/15/84; Final 07/22/87
Project Manager
Documents:About Adobe Portable Document Format

Site Background:
Robins Air Force Base (AFB) serves as a worldwide logistics management center for aircraft, missiles, and support systems and is a major repair center for aircraft and airborne electronic systems.  Robins AFB occupies 8,855 acres, approximately 18 miles south of Macon, Georgia.  It is bounded on the west by the City of Warner Robins, on the north by a housing subdivision in Houston County, on the south by unincorporated Bonaire, and on the east by the Ocmulgee River and its floodplain.

Over the years, Robins AFB has generated various types of solid wastes including hazardous waste.  The hazardous waste includes electroplating waste containing heavy metals and cyanide, organic solvents from cleaning operations and fire training exercises, and off specification chemicals, such as pesticides.

The Robins AFB, National Priority List (NPL) Site is located approximately 4,500 feet east of Georgia Highway 247 in the central part of the base.  Landfill 4 (LF04) is adjacent to a bluff that forms the western boundary of the Ocmulgee River floodplain.  The floodplain extends about 1 to 2 miles eastward to the river.  Surface water at the base generally drains from west to east into the Ocmulgee River floodplain.  Around the landfill, Cretaceous sediment is overlain by Quaternary alluvial deposits.  The Cretaceous deposits are, in descending order, the Providence and Ripley formations, the Cusseta formation, and the Blufftown Formation.  The Providence Formation is saturated and yields large quantities of water to wells.

The Cusseta Formation is composed of about 15 to 50 feet of dense plastic clay and sand in the vicinity of the site.  The unit is saturated, but yields little water to wells and is an aquitard for the underlying Blufftown Formation.  The Blufftown Formation consists of saturated sand and gravel beds and yields significant quantities of water to wells.  It is the primary aquifer for the local water supply.  Robins AFB water supply wells are completed in this formation.

The general direction of groundwater flow within the Cretaceous formations beneath the NPL area is from west to east, generally toward the Ocmulgee River.  The floodplain of the Ocmulgee River is a discharge area for groundwater.  A drainage ditch that forms the north boundary of  Landfill 4 acts to control local groundwater flow because shallow groundwater in the area discharges upward into the ditch from both the north and the south.

Landfill 4 originally was constructed by disposing of fill material into the floodplain and wetland area from the bluff and advancing to the east.  The sludge lagoon was constructed on the northern boundary of Landfill 4 by excavating and building earthen dikes.

The nature, extent, and concentration of hazardous substances in the landfill and sludge lagoon have been studied in numerous field sampling investigations.  The primary classes of contaminants present at the NPL site are metals and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), primarily trichloroethylene (TCE).  The highest relative concentrations of metals and VOCs occur in the sludge lagoon.  High concentrations of contaminants were detected in leachate samples from the sludge in the sludge lagoon.
Cleanup Progress: Construction Complete
The NPL site was divided into three operable units.  Operable Unit 1 addresses Landfill No. 4, the sludge lagoon, and the groundwater directly adjacent to the lagoon and comprises source control.  

Operable Unit 2 addresses neighboring wetlands and surface waters.  In 2002, OU-2 was transferred to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division's RCRA Corrective Action Program following the determination that the other operable units had not contributed to the wetlands contamination.  An Interim Measure to excavate contaminated sediments was completed in 2006.

Interim remedies for Operable Units 1 and 3,  were selected in 1991 and 1994, respectively.  The Interim ROD for OU-1  selected excavation, stabilization and redeposition into a lined sludge basin.  A low permeability cover provided further protection.  The landfill was capped and natural drainage was diverted around the landfill.  This work was completed in 1996.
Also in 1997, a pump&treat system installed through the landfill to restore the groundwater of OU-3.  This system has operated continuously from 1997 through present-day and has successfully reduced the volume and toxicity of the contaminant plume.

In 2004, the Final Record of Decision for OU-1 and OU-3, noting the success of the interim remedies, elected to continue these remedies with the addition of land-use and institutional controls to further guarantee protectiveness.   The land use controls include access and dig restrictions to protect the landfill and sludge basin caps and groundwater use restrictions.  The status of “construction complete” was assigned to the site on September 29, 2004.  In 2007 a study of “remedy optimization” was begun.

For information about the contents of this page please contact Carolyn Haugabook

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