Exposure to these chemicals is associated with a range of detrimental health effects including kidney and testicular cancer, liver damage, and decreased immunological response.
Military installations and adjacent communities are especially at risk because the sites use PFAS-containing firefighting foam in their trainings and operations.
These chemicals have seeped into the ground and waterways near military sites, and in turn contaminated groundwater and the drinking water that serves the bases and nearby homes.
The ATSDR draft report suggests that the safe level of PFAS in drinking water should be seven to 10 times lower than the current, non-enforceable federal guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“The EPA is not doing nearly enough to protect families, especially military families, from PFAS contamination of their water,” said Genna Reed, the UCS analyst who reviewed the evidence of PFAS contamination.
It’s no wonder that a White House official referred to the report as a potential ‘public relations nightmare.’” The UCS analysis, which mapped 131 military sites across 37 states at which PFAS levels have been detected in drinking water and groundwater, found: Of the 32 sites with direct drinking water contamination, more than half had PFAS concentrations that were at least 10 times higher than the risk level established by the ATSDR.
These sites have PFAS levels in groundwater more than 100,000 times higher than the suggested threshold.
The number of military sites with PFAS contamination is likely even higher since the Pentagon used the EPA’s drinking water health advisory of 70 ppt as the PFAS detection level and only tested for the two most common compounds.
“We need immediate action to reduce the risk to military families from PFAS contamination,” Reed said.
Servicemembers, their families and nearby communities deserve better.”