DOYLINE – Plans to test area water wells on and near Louisiana National Guard’s Camp Minden were presented to the Citizen’s Advisory Group, which is responsible for reviewing procedures affecting the public and making suggestions to government agencies.
After spending several weeks obtaining right of access agreements from property owners, 21 sites have been secured to draw water samples.
The samples will be tested for contaminants from the days of the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant.
The wells to be tested will be a cross section of water supply and private wells between Boone Creek and Caney Creek that feeds into Clark Bayou. Boone and Caney Creeks run through Camp Minden.
Officials said testing should begin in January and results would be made available to individual property owners first and final reports would be made public in a way that offers anonymity to landowners.
The group was created as a response to a public outcry to responsibly remove millions of pounds of hazardous waste, including an explosive propellant M6 and Clean Burning Igniter left behind at Camp Minden by the now bankrupt Explo Systems Inc.
To date, nearly 60 percent or 9.5 million pounds of M6 has been destroyed using a burn chamber owned by ESI, Explosive Services Inc.
Last month all CBI has been destroyed through controlled bunker burns, which were all monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA along with Department of Environmental Quality and LANG are now working to continue to test the quality of water in the area.
Monitoring of air quality is conducted daily at ESI and is available for review at esicampminden.com.