We’ve known for years about the dry-cleaning chemicals and leaking fuel tanks contaminating the water at Camp Lejeune. It went on for decades (1953-1987) with multiple generations being affected before the Department of Veterans Affairs finally allowed claims for disability from all the illnesses caused by the water. But Lejeune isn’t the only one.
Last year, word started surfacing about chemicals in the water at the Pease Air Base with enough of a hue and cry that health officials called for people to sign up in a health study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then there’s Fort Ord. It was put on the Superfund’s National Priorities List in 1990 due to leaking petroleum tanks underground.
Now there’s news from Hawaii, where families at Pearl Harbor-Hickam Field are concerned about petroleum and lead in the drinking water, including in a child-development center. Then there’s the fuel in the drinking water in 9,000 of their homes, leading to families being cleared out and sent to motels. Even after the lines were flushed, petroleum remained. Now residents are asking that the VA cover them as Camp Lejeune was (finally) covered, except they don’t want to wait for so many years.
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If you and your family were stationed at any military base (especially if it had an airport and the use of fire-suppressant foam) and if any of you have health problems, dig into the cause. Start online with the Environmental Working Group (EWG.org) and put “military bases” in the search box. Find the map showing 678 military installations with suspect PFAS in the water, and click on any base on the map to see test results for that location.
Do a search online for bases with contaminated water. You’ll be shocked at the list.
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Image by M W