Aggressive, continuous efforts keep Malmstrom environmentally compliant Published Feb. 4, 2010 By Valerie Mullett 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. -- There are many checks and balances in place to ensure military installations maintain environmental standards including directives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense and many other governing agencies. Directives aside, it is important to be good stewards of the environment because it's the right thing to do, for Malmstrom, the people of Great Falls, and our other neighbors in North Central Montana. Some installations, such as Malmstrom, are faced with additional environmental hurdles to overcome, and are meeting the challenges head on and with success. One area where Malmstrom is successfully meeting the challenge of environmental stewardship is in the area of storm water management. And while many of the storm water management projects completed or in the works may seem small, when you add them up, they can have a dramatic impact. Sidewalk installation projects One such project is the Malmstrom sidewalk installation effort underway. Currently there are four sidewalk installation projects approved for the base. Three have started, but are on hold until the end of winter. The fourth will begin in the spring. Combined, the projects total nearly two acres in size. Two of the projects were funded as part of the military family housing upgrades at a cost of more than $455K. The other two projects focus on increased safety along the high-traffic routes on the base and will be paid for by Operations and Maintenance, or O&M funds, at a cost of just under $400K. What makes these projects unique is their environmentally friendly design. "Sidewalks typically attach to curbs that drain into the street and eventually into the storm water drains," said Chris Murphy, environmental engineer with the 341st Civil Engineer Squadron here. "The sidewalks currently being constructed will not do that." Instead, he said, they will be built to slope into the grass instead of into the street. "Sloping sidewalks into the grass slows down the flow of storm water," said Jeremy Rhodes, SABER engineer for the sidewalk projects. "This deposits any sediment into the grass instead of continuing to carry it downstream and eventually off base into streams and rivers." Detention and retention ponds In 2007, Congress implemented the "Energy Independence and Security Act" which addresses storm water runoff requirements for federal development projects, such as construction projects larger than 5,000 square feet. The recently completed Phase I of the fitness center is one such project; the new Community Activities Center currently under construction is another; and the upcoming construction of a new base exchange is a third construction project. All fall within these requirements. "Basically what the EPA has directed is that the post-construction sites cannot function any differently than the pre-construction sites with regards to storm water," Mr. Murphy said. Phase I of the fitness center construction included building a retention pond to accomplish this. "The soils here (at Malmstrom) are very tight and don't absorb water very well," Mr. Murphy said. "During construction, they are backfilled in with an engineered soil that drains much better. It is then connected to an underground drain to form a bio-retention pond." He said the purpose of the pond is runoff control. Plans at the new CAC include building a vegetative swale. "Swales are sloped detention basins that will collect storm water from the CAC via an underground pipe," said Jason Gibbons, wildlife biologist for the 341st CES. "A gravel strip will line the bottom of the swale to enhance percolation back into the aquifer. Plants will be used to stabilize the soils around the swale and promote water filtration." Plants include two types of trees along with a variety of bushes, shrubs and grasses. The construction plans for the new base exchange are not complete but will conform to these new environmentally friendly guidelines, as well. Helping protect land around Whitmore Ravine Interest in the environmental condition of Whitmore Ravine by landowners and conservation groups since the mid-2000's has continued to increase. Malmstrom leadership shares this interest and entered into a partnership with the concerned stakeholders by joining to form the Whitmore Ravine Cooperative Conservation Committee, or WRCCC, to identify and implement a solution to erosion around the ravine. While studies were conducted as early as 2004, including the Whitmore Ravine Assessment Report and the Erosion Control Study, they focused on conditions within the Whitmore Ravine but did not provide an assessment of what was causing the erosion around the ravine. Subsequently, Malmstrom initiated a Staff Assistance Visit by officials from Air Force Space Command in 2007, to conduct a comprehensive watershed assessment. More recently, Malmstrom has taken the following steps: In 2008, the Air Force contracted Booz Allen Hamilton, an engineering consultant, to conduct a watershed analysis. The purpose was to characterize the watershed and identify contributors to erosion. This study's objective was to describe all the factors that contribute to erosion so the stakeholders involved could come to a consensus on the causes and start working toward a solution. A storm water collection system investigation by the Army was also conducted in 2008 which measured the constant flow rates within storm sewers and identified the source's continuous flow. Doing this allowed Malmstrom officials to determine how much water was entering the collection system and where it was coming from, thereby providing critical information necessary to design controls to manage the water more effectively. Finally, an urban runoff and erosion reduction study was completed in 2009. This important effort developed a series of alternatives to runoff in Whitmore Ravine. Malmstrom can boast of an extensive project history that has provided good stewardship of its runoff. More than $1.7M has been spent on various upgrade projects since 2003, including the addition of spill gates and detention ponds - all of which, when taken together, make a difference. "One of the greatest steps toward getting our arms around this complex issue was signing the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding with the other stakeholders," said Col. Michael Fortney, 341st Missile Wing commander. "Think of this as the base/community game plan. In it, all parties agreed to focus on their areas of responsibility in working together to improve the environmental stature of the area around Whitmore Ravine." In signing the MOU, Malmstrom agreed to address specific areas of concern and as a result, there are more runoff prevention projects in the planning and design stages. They include: Grading the grassy areas around the airfield apron, runways and taxiways, and modifying storm water inlets. The estimated cost for this project is $900K. While grading around the runway may seem insignificant, it's anything but that. By grading this large area, we will allow precipitation that falls on the large impervious runways, taxiways and apron to infiltrate into the ground instead of running into storm drains that flow off base. In FY11, additional detention ponds will be constructed at a cost of $560K. The current detention pond and drainage structures on 10th Avenue N. will be modified to increase their size at a cost of $880K. This will provide additional storage capacity and retention time which will reduce storm discharge from the northwest portion of the base. A project scheduled for FY12 to retrofit the detention pond north of the RV storage area will include improved drainage structures and is estimated to cost $85K. Likewise, this important work will increase the pond capacity to reduce storm water flows from that portion of the base. "With the completion of all of these projects, it will make the base seem as if it were non-existent, with respect to the amount of storm water runoff it will produce," Mr. Murphy said. "In other words, it would take us back to predevelopment stages - grasslands." "Malmstrom has taken an active role for several years to address the concerns with Whitmore Ravine and in the prevention of further erosion at that location. Our commitment to continue supporting these efforts into the future is real," Colonel Fortney said. "Projects have been designed, funds have been allocated and it is my intent to stand by the promise I made when I signed the MOU in March (2009). We're in this for the long haul and we will work with our community partners to get it right."