ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) 鈥� New Mexico environmental regulators are criticizing Kirtland Air Force Base's proposal for cleaning up a massive underground fuel leak, saying it would threaten Albuquerque's water supply.
Kirtland's plan centers on using a Kirtland water well to remove fuel-contaminated groundwater to keep it away from a neighborhood where municipal drinking wells are located. The contaminated water then would be treated to meet drinking water standards.
However, the Albuquerque Journal that the state Environment Department concluded in a letter that the proposed strategy would help spread the contamination toward the municipal water supply.
A consultant for the metro area's water authority said the Kirtland proposal wouldn't succeed because it wouldn't remove enough water to divert the main flow of contamination.
