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. 5.7 Vertical Extent of Groundwater Contamination <br /> At the present time, groundwater between the depths of 48 feet in GT-4 and at least 65 feet in the <br /> other borings is contaminated Water samples have not been collected from discrete depth intervals to <br /> determine the thickness of the groundwater plume in the Riverbank aquifer, but the low concentrations <br /> in most borings suggest that the plume probably does not extend far below 65 feet However, because <br /> groundwater levels have risen from 85 to 65 feet in recent years, it is possible that groundwater may be <br /> contaminated at low concentrations to a depth of 80 feet or more <br /> 5.8 Lateral Extent of Groundwater Contamination <br /> As shown in Table 5, diesel-range hydrocarbons are present in all of the wells sampled during this <br /> phase of investigation except for the drinking water wells These results imply that groundwater <br /> contamination is considerably more extensive than previously suspected In particular, contamination is <br /> not restricted to the area downgradient (south) of the UST facility, the highest concentrations of <br /> hydrocarbons are located upgradient(north)of the facility in GT4 and GT-8(Figure 16) <br /> The location of GT-9 near the southern limit of the plume appears to be justified by the low <br /> concentrations detected in the well sample and the absence of contamination in the hydropunch sample <br /> However, because of the unexpected trough in the piezometnc surface (Figure 9), contaminated <br /> groundwater may extend farther to the southwest of GT-9 than shown in Figure 16 <br /> . The Gillies drinking water well is north of the plume The high concentration in the hydropunch sample <br /> from GT-8 creates the impression that the northern margin of the plume is closer to G 1 than to GT-8, <br /> but if the concentration from the well sample(3,600 pgll) had been used in Figure 16, the limit would <br /> be closer to GT-8 Based on Figure 16, the plume is estimated to cover an area in excess of 26,000 <br /> square feet, or slightly more than 112 acre <br /> 6.0 CONCLUSIONS <br /> Several conclusions can be drawn from the investigation of this site These form the basis for the <br /> recommendations offered m section 7 0 <br /> 1) The primary contaminant at this site is the diesel used to fuel the trucking fleet This fuel was <br /> contained in a 10,000-gallon UST until 1989 A secondary contaminant is gasoline, which was <br /> contained in a 2,000-gallon UST Toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene have been detected infrequently <br /> and at low concentrations, but benzene has been detected extremely rarely and methyl-tertiary-butyl- <br /> ether has not been detected in any samples <br /> 2) The vertical and lateral extent of soil contamination have been well delineated and related to the <br /> subsurface geologic conditions and processes controlling contaminant distribution The shape of the <br /> contaminant plume changes with depth and is controlled primarily by the geometry of a mayor stream <br /> channel deposit and secondarily by cemented sandstone ("hardpan") zones The bulk of the <br /> i <br /> 15 <br />