DoD finds 50% more installations contaminated with PFAS

March 25, 2020

The U.S. Department of Defense said PFAS chemicals may have been used or released at 651 of its installations, 50% more than initially reported.

A progress report released by the DoD’s PFAS Task Force said the increase represents smaller installations across the Army and Army National Guard.

Previous reports counted only 401 installations, including several in Indiana.

The DoD said the initial reporting included only installations with potentially significant historic use of aqueous film-forming foam, a type of foam used to fight fires caused by flammable liquids like gasoline, oils and solvents.

The foam contains PFAS, a group of manmade chemicals that have been linked to a series of adverse health conditions like liver damage, pregnancy-induced hypertension, lowered birth weight and an increased risk of developing certain types of cancer.

The report did not include the location of the newly identified sites, but states that the DoD proactively initiated short-term actions to ensure people on the installation received clean drinking water if PFAS levels at the installation drinking water systems were found to be above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s lifetime drinking water health advisory of 70 parts per trillion.

DoD finds 50% more installations contaminated with PFAS

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