DoD policy requires that all DoD ranges and operating areas be managed in a manner that supports their long-term viability and utility to meet the national defense mission while protecting human health and the environment. Sustaining the future use of operational ranges requires an ongoing awareness and mitigation of the potential transport of munitions constituents to ensure the sustainability of DoD testing and training ranges.
RDX, perchlorate, and some of the newer IHE like NTO dissolve quickly and are very soluble in water. These compounds may pose a risk to groundwater and by extension, surface water. Surface treatments or amendments that can effectively retain and promote the degradation of these compounds are therefore needed now, particularly before the new IHE are more widely used on ranges.
Munitions constituent residues generally can be small enough to be readily transported by storm water runoff over land and into drainage areas, eventually making their way into surface water receptors. Additionally, larger munitions constituent residues can undergo in-place weathering, leading to entrainment and transport of dissolved and particulate munitions constituent during precipitation events. Many areas where detonations occur have sparse vegetation, due to repeated soil disturbance and range management efforts to minimize fires and facilitate UXO clearance; this may lead to reduced chances that the transport of munitions constituents in storm water runoff will be mitigated by vegetation before reaching surface waters.
Impact areas are inherently difficult to treat given the repeated detonations that can move amendments out of the area or destroy them. Some success has been seen at grenade ranges using hydrated lime, but these are already well managed training areas. New techniques will be needed to deliver amendments effectively to more remote ranges with much larger areas.
Workshop participants identified a number of research needs associated with mitigation of transport of munitions constituents. It is essential that proposers view the Workshop Report to obtain additional detail concerning these discussions.
