Forest preserve working on pollution remediation at Brunner

The Brunner Family Forest Preserve moved a step closer to becoming free of pollution Thursday. Commissioners approved a contract to complete the remediation of an old leaking fuel tank at the site.

Kane County Forest Preserve District officials were aware of the situation before buying the property in October 2008. It had the previous owners set aside $200,000 in an escrow account to clean up the spill. The tank was located adjacent to a residence on the property. Years of leaking have contaminated the surrounding groundwater. About $50,000 of the cash has been spent on the cleanup so far. A committee of commissioners voted Thursday to spend up to $16,700 more for additional work.

Indiana-based August Mack Environmental, Inc. is the contractor completing the remediation plan. The plan involves three years of groundwater sampling and monitoring at eight temporary monitoring wells on the property. The treatment involves removing toxic gasoline components from the groundwater. Modern gasoline contains an additive, Methyl tertiary-butyl ether, that helps decrease air pollution, but it is also contributes to gasoline rapidly spreading into groundwater when fuel storage tanks leak. The wells have been injected with a chemical to treat the pollution, but removing enough contamination to meet Illinois EPA standards has been elusive so far.

“We’ve come back I don’t know how many times on this project thinking this was the end,” said Jerry Culp, the district’s director of planning and development.

In other action Thursday, forest preserve staff members put out a reminder to area residents that if they see smoke or flames in their local forest preserve during the next four weeks it’s probably a planned burn. There are planned burns at 17 sites in the Kane County Forest Preserve District between now and mid-April. The district uses the burns as a cost-effective way to manage plant growth in the preserves.