Gilbert-Mosley Project
"The Gilbert & Mosley Project is considered to be one of the most innovative public-private partnerships ever created to solve the complex environmental problem of groundwater contamination. This project has earned the City of Wichita national recognition for its development to avoid Superfund intervention and the impacts upon public health, environmental risks and the local economy."
History
In 1991, routine testing of the groundwater detected contamination in the vicinity of downtown Wichita. The 2600-acre area discovered was dubbed the "Gilbert-Mosley Site" as these were the streets that crossed at the point of the first discovery of the contamination. Since then, investigations have broadened the site boundary to include a total of approximately 3850 acres.
Today
The City of Wichita's Gilbert and Mosley Project includes the operation of a groundwater treatment system, an environmental education building, a plaza area, and several site improvement items in Herman Hill Park. The groundwater treatment system remediates large volumes of groundwater that have been contaminated by various chlorinated solvents (PCE, TCE, DCE, and VC), and the remediation system includes the operation of 10 extraction wells, 5.5 miles of piping, and a hydraulic-venturi air stripper treatment system. The treatment system has been in continuous operations since December 2002, and approximately 1 million gallons of groundwater are treated each day.