Military Testing Hundreds Of Sites For Water Contamination

The military plans to test water quality at hundreds of sites across the country amid fears that firefighting foam used in training operations has contaminated water sources with potentially carcinogenic chemicals.

The Defense Department said testing is planned for “664 sites where the military has conducted fire or crash training,” the Associated Press reported. “California has the most sites, with 85, followed by Texas, with 57, Florida, with 38, and Alaska and South Carolina, each with 26, according to a list provided to the AP. Each state has at least one site.”

Nearly 30 naval sites have been tested since December, and officials have already registered elevated levels for certain chemicals.

“Drinking water at a landing field in Virginia and the groundwater at another site in New Jersey have been found to contain levels above the guidance given by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Navy said. Results of the other tests have either come up under federally acceptable levels or are pending,” the report said.

The Navy is providing bottled water for workers at the Virginia site, and it is performing additional testing at local wells.

The problem chemicals are perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which are found in firefighting foam. The military is trying to prevent it from being released into the environment during military exercises. Safer foams are not yet certified for military use.

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) can be challenging to treat. In the environment, they are resistant to typical environmental degradation processes.

“Because of their unique physicochemical properties (strong fluorine-carbon bond and low vapor pressure), PFOS and PFOA resist most conventional in situ treatment technologies, such as direct oxidation,” according to the U.S. EPA.

“Ex situ treatments including activated carbon filters, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis units have been shown to remove PFCs from water; however, incineration of the concentrated waste would be needed for the complete destruction of PFCs,” the agency said.

Research is ongoing into cost-effective treatments for PFCs.

Testing has revealed PFCs “in several public and private wells surrounding the former Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster and nearby Horsham," PA Wire News reported.

The Horsham Water and Sewer Authority noted in a statement that PFOS is known to cause “developmental, reproductive and other adverse effects" in lab animals, according to Patch. Research has linked the chemical to cancer.

For similar stories, visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.