Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Department of Defense is checking two firing ranges in Portland, to see if any lead from bullets -- or chemicals from explosives -- are contaminating the groundwater. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The Oregon Air National Guard Base, near Portland Airport, has two firing ranges. One for guns, and a second – like a concrete room without a roof – that’s used to test better ways of disarming pipe-bombs and ‘improvised explosive devices.’

15-years-ago, Roger Rein helped design the shooting range and says rubber matting was placed underneath it -- so water contaminated with lead could be collected.

Roger Ryan: “When we originally designed this, we channeled the pipe to storm water, and that storm water had a limit to it, we exceeded that limit with our permit, and then we re-directed that from storm water to sanitary.”

Ryan says the firing ranges stay well below the .7 milligrams of lead per liter, that they’re permitted to release.

The checks are part of a nation-wide sweep of firing ranges.