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Norton AFB, California Division Of Water Quality
Clean water and water supplies were threatened by the pollution introduced by disposal methods at Norton Air Force Base. Together, Norton AFB and the California Division of Water Quality cleaned up the ground pollution which helped reduce the pollutants entering water resources. Further work to improve water pollution has helped return fresh water to the area.
The 2,145 acre Norton Air Force Base in California began operations in 1945. It serviced jet engines and provided general repair of aircraft. It also maintained and provided logistics for liquid fuel used in intercontinental ballistic missiles. Ironically, this base founded to defend the homeland became a major source of environmental damage.
Hazardous waste management in the WWII era was haphazard, if not downright cavalier. Norton AFB's practices included burial of drums and other unidentified contains of toxic wastes; dumping waste oils, solvents, and paints into landfills, unlined pits, drying beds, and ponds; storage of contaminants in leaky underground tanks; and spills of gas, oils, solvents, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and acids. Contaminated areas with Norton AFB include two landfills, six discharge areas, four chemical pits, a fire training area, a fuel spill area, a PCB spill area, a chemical spill area, two waste storage areas, and an underground storage tank area.
Contaminants at Norton AFB included trichloroethylene (TCE), a common degreasing solvent that has penetrated the upper water aquifer and soil; dioxin and PCBs; and heavy metals including chromium, arsenic, and copper. Several drinking water wells in the nearby city of Riverside tested positive for TCE levels above five parts per billion, posing a risk to those who drink the water.
In response to pressures from local communities and the California Division of Water Quality, Norton AFB was declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Air Force developed a three-stage remediation plan and began to implement it in 1984.
By 1986, the Air Force removed the industrial wastewater treatment plant sludge drying beds. Twenty-four underground storage tanks were removed in 1989. The floor in Building 763, contaminated with TCE, was replaced in late 1992. That building is currently used by San Bernardino International Airport.
Longer-term efforts included cleanup of the entire site. Deed restrictions were implemented to prevent potentially hazardous uses of the land. Groundwater monitoring and extraction slowly removed aquifer contaminants, and treated water was re-injected into the aquifers serving the city of Riverside. Air pollution emissions were monitored and the air was stripped of contaminants emanating from polluted soil. The soil itself was scraped to a depth sufficient to remove heavy metals, TCE and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Norton AFB was closed in 1994 under the Base Realignment and Closure Act. The site is now being converted to private uses. The Inland Valley Development Agency and San Bernardino International Airport Authority exercise joint power as the local reuse agency for property leases from the Air Force until leases can be transferred by deed to new owners. Most of the base will be used as large warehouse distribution centers by major corporations such as Stater Brothers and Mattel, Inc. The site still participates in the Installation Restoration Program, a specially funded program established by the Department of Defense (DOD) in 1978 to identify, investigate, and control the migration of hazardous contaminants at military and other DOD facilities.
Norton AFB is an example of shortsighted waste management practices of a bygone era that require enormous expense to clean up later. Norton AFB and the California Division of Water Quality worked together to improve a bad situation. How many other areas around the world haven't been as lucky as the land at the former Norton AFB?
