Specifications include, but are not limited to: 4.3.1. This site is in the Ritz-Canton oil field, which utilized brine pits for brine disposal from oil production. The depth of the groundwater is 17 +/- feet. There are buried paleo-channels where the bedrock is encountered at approximately 60-100 feet. These channels usually hold the highest chloride levels near the top of the Wellington Shale. Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) has operated a recovery system at this site since 2005. In August 2014 the KCC completed the Phase III package, including installing five monitoring wells and one recovery well. Data obtained from these additional wells shows a significant chloride source to the east/ northeast of the remedial site in section 14. There are multiple suspected pits in that section, including the distillation refinery's last location and associated pits operational in the 1940s. Chlorides follow along the paleo-valley slope (top of the Wellington Formation) located northeast of Galva and pool in low areas. There is a paleo high directly below the city and its PWS wells. This high suggests the only reason the public water supply is still viable is brine water settling in the aquifer's lower zones. Evidence has shown a strong possibility that the associated refinery and production pits in section 14 are significant sources of brine contamination encroaching on the City of Galva. Bedrock orientation, as well as chloride levels in MW-114, support this idea. 4.3.2. Due to the concern of elevated chlorides in the City of Galva public supply well #5, KCC will install 4 - 6 monitoring wells up and side gradient from the #5 PWS. The City of Galva has three operating public supply wells affected by the brine plume the KCC is attempting to remediate. There are many lawn and garden wells in the area. WWC-5s have been filed on most wells, but many water wells appear to have been completed before requirements, or the paperwork was not filed. Groundwater movement is to the south-southwest, but brine contamination tends to follow the bottom of the paleo - valleys and can move slightly differently to the overall groundwater flow direction.
