Grand Island, Nebraska

==Environmental issues==
Construction of a primary water detention cell for [[flood control]] by the Central [[Platte River]] Natural Resources District, the city of Grand Island, Hall County, and Merrick County has been delayed by the slow cleanup of burning grounds with buried and unexploded gravel mines on the grounds of the former [[Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant]].<ref name=GI/>

In 1981, a plume of contaminated groundwater was discovered beneath the plant area, which occupies 20 square miles west of Grand Island. The plume extended northeast of the plant for about five miles and migrated towards Grand Island. [[RDX]] was discovered at 371 parts per billion (ppb) and [[TNT]] at 445 ppb on the plant site and just over 100 ppb off-site. The safe drinking water standard for RDX and TNT is only 2 ppb.
<ref name=GI>{{cite news|author1=Tracy Overstreet|title=Off-site RDX contamination cleanup completed|url=http://www.theindependent.com/news/local/off-site-rdx-contamination-cleanup-completed/article_78347f82-80f4-11e4-9dd3-cb4d4f8e1a33.html|access-date=13 December 2014|work=Grand Island Independent|publisher=BH Media Group Holdings, Inc|date=10 December 2014}}</ref>

Cornhusker had produced bombs and explosives during World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam War, and had been put on standby status in October 1973. During munitions production, wastewater contaminated with explosives, and explosives-contaminated mops, buckets, and other equipment were buried in 56 earthen surface impoundments. Dried solids were periodically scraped from the impoundments and taken to the burning grounds for incineration and burial. After the discovery of contaminated groundwater in 1981, the Army extended Grand Island city water lines to rural subdivisions (that as of 2014 are part of the Capital Heights and Le Heights areas) in 1985 because wells may have exposed residents to the contaminated water. In 1987, the Army burned about 40,000 tons of explosives-contaminated soil. In 1993, city water lines in the northwest and north-central Grand Island were extended. In 1998, a pump-and-treat facility that continues to operate was built to cycle contaminated water through an explosives residue-removal system and discharge it as clean water into Silver Creek. The Army injected "hot spots" of contamination with a molasses-based substance containing bacteria present under the T&E Cattle Company feedlot to more quickly degrade RDX and TNT, which was intended to lower contamination levels.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the sites of bomb production lines (the so-called load line structures), were cleared and burned. {{As of| 2014}}, TNT is still present at 30 ppb, and 7 ppb for RDX in the hot spot under load line 1.<ref name=GI/>

{{As of|2014}}, the most heavily contaminated areas at Cornhusker are the burning grounds with buried and unexploded gravel mines. Their excavation proceeds very slowly, sifting one cubic yard at a time, because of the explosives' shock sensitivity. Excavation is expected to finish by January 2015, followed by environmental testing, estimated to take 24 to 36 months.<ref name=GI/>