Old Hydrant Water May Be Key In Veterans' Water Contamination Case

Military veterans who were stationed at shuttered Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Michigan have been working to prove they were poisoned by tap water, and a new discovery may lend itself to their case.

Water inside old fire hydrants at the base may be the key to substantiating their arguments, according to Michigan Live.

“According to a pending Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) report, catch basins inside hydrants previously connected to the base water system have tested positive for high levels of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs), a class of compounds tied to thyroid, kidney, liver and reproductive problems,” MLive reported.

“Although the new evidence comes from water at least 20 years old, PFCs are still leaching through [local] groundwater in expanding plumes that a joint Air Force [and state] investigation are trying to map,” the report said.

Advocates for the veterans say the information gleaned from the hydrants could strengthen their argument in favor of a health study of their claims. They say they have suffered from chronic health problems linked to using contaminated tap water during their years on the base, according to the report. They want the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department to be more responsive to their needs.

Bob Delaney, DEQ's project manager for the former air force base site, weighed in with Michigan Radio.

"The contamination that we're seeing in the hydrants indicates to us that the people on the base were at times drinking levels of PFC contamination that were above the health advisory that EPA has put out for these chemicals," he said.

Delaney has noted in previous interviews that the contamination from the base has left marks on groundwater in the local community.

“[Delaney] said the chemicals are so pervasive in the groundwater that if you pull the water out of the ground in the area where firefighting training took place, it still foams,” the Associated Press reported.

The EPA issued a health advisory in May about PFC exposure as various cities wage high-profile battles against the compounds, including Hoosick Falls, NY, and towns near factory and military sites across the country. PFCs are industrial chemicals, and research has tied them to cancer, the Associated Press reported.