These contaminants, widely used to make carpets, fabrics, food packaging and more, are pervasive; they can’t be easily broken down and effectively poison water sources.
While several states are rushing to clean up contaminated sites and act on safety regulations, EPA administrators have failed to take this issue seriously.
Despite new EPA guidelines set out in 2016, the Pentagon did not disclose the full scope of the contamination on military installations until March of this year.
Today, the U.S. Army says there are 146 military sites contaminated with PFAS and PFOA.
Environmental Working Group released a study showing that up to 16 million Americans use drinking water with such contamination.
In North Carolina, we’re falling behind in dealing with air and water pollution from GenX, an unregulated chemical released into the Cape Fear River for years — a river that provides drinking water for residents from Fayetteville to Wilmington.
The “hotspots” for PFAS and PFOA contamination are popping up in different locations every week — Colorado recently found new contamination in Boulder, potentially 4,800 public drinking water systems are threatened in Ohio, and Michigan has more than 30 known contaminated sites.
The Department of Defense can safeguard public health, and has the obligation to protect and provide for service members and their families.
The first step is notifying any who have been stationed at military bases where PFAS-containing foams were used.
Our public health leaders have not protected military families and neighboring communities from PFAS contamination, but there is still time to do the right thing.