Sioux City may go after DOD for well field contamination - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

Work to remove a 380,000 gallon plume of fuel that sits underneath the well field at Sioux Gateway Airport is moving at a snail's pace.

At the rate they're going, it could take Sioux City more than two-thousand-years and $64 million to get the mess cleaned up.

Removal is important because the gas threatens to contaminate the city's well field.  Sioux City's Public Works Director wants the council to study other clean-up methods.

Council members are concerned about who will pay for the work.  Officials point to a leak in underground fuel tanks that dates back to a US Air Force base during World War Two.

"Our concern is that the Department of Defense represented by the Corps of Engineers takes their share of that bill," said City Council Member Tom Padgett.

Water Plant Superintendent Rick Mach says the EPA has indicated to him that the Department of Defense does have some responsibility to cover the cost of the clean-up.