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Army Corps to dig test pits at former Banana River disposal area; results will guide further sampling
Summary
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the Brevard County Commission it will begin digging 10-foot test pits next week at a former Navy disposal area in South Patrick Shores to determine the nature and extent of possible buried material; soil and groundwater sampling could follow depending on results.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin digging test pits next week at the former Naval Air Station Banana River off-base disposal area in South Patrick Shores as part of a remedial investigation, Corps project manager Rebecca Lee Duffel told the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners on April 8.
The test pits are intended to identify the nature and extent of any Navy-related impacts, Duffel said. The work will use ground-penetrating radar to pick locations, requires property-owner permission, and will involve a small excavator digging trenches about 10 feet long and 6 to 8 feet deep. Soil sampling and groundwater sampling would follow only if the test-pit data indicate they are necessary.
The Corps described the work as part of the remedial-investigation phase, not a removal action. “This is not a removal action. We're not looking for things to remove, but to identify the nature and extent of potential Navy-related impacts,” Duffel said. Test pits will start in April 2025; the Corps said soil borings could follow in summer 2025 and that it expects preliminary results from the fieldwork and analysis in a matter of months, with more complete findings possibly by year-end.
Commissioners pressed the Corps on potential exposure pathways and nearby sensitive sites. Commissioner Delaney asked whether any pits would be on or adjacent to the high school; Duffel said none of the initial pits will be on Satellite Beach High School and that the current test pits are limited to the mapped footprint the Corps developed from historical aerial imagery. Corps technical lead Brad Tomko said the hydrologic flow direction is not yet known because monitoring wells are not in place; the team “assume[s] it might be tidally influenced a little bit” but does not yet know whether groundwater flows to the river, the ocean or south.
Commissioners and residents raised health and historical concerns. Duffel said the Corps has conducted outreach including letters, postcards, drop-in meetings and phone calls. If the remedial-investigation results indicate a need for remediation, the Corps said it would develop a plan for any cleanup phase, which could include soil removal among other options.
Why it matters: Residents in the Satellite Beach area have raised decades-long concerns about possible buried material from Navy-era disposal. The Army Corps’ work will produce data that determine whether further sampling and cleanup are needed and whether nearby receptors — including private yards and groundwater users — require additional attention.
What’s next: The Corps said test pits begin in April 2025, borings could follow in summer 2025 depending on results, and data analysis could take a few months. Commissioners asked staff to stay engaged and to raise other public-safety or school-proximity questions with the Corps as the investigation proceeds.
