Some fear groundwater near Ga. military bases is toxic

Associated Press

ATLANTA

Groundwater near Georgia military bases remains contaminated from a toxic firefighting foam used for decades by the U.S. Air Force, prompting fears among residents about their exposure to the chemicals.

Recent tests at Georgia’s three air bases show extensive environmental contamination of groundwater, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Environmentalists say that contamination from the foam exposed Georgia communities to chemicals linked to cancer and a variety of other health problems.

The Air Force has said that Georgia’s drinking water is safe for the thousands of people living around its installations.

But experts and nearby residents question those findings, saying the military’s review was too narrow and failed to test water off-base.

“Given that there are concentrations of these compounds on site, over time they’re going to move off of the site. That’s just common sense,” said Jamie DeWitt, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at East Carolina University. “No contaminant obeys property lines.”

Nationwide, the Air Force has acknowledged contaminating drinking water in communities close to its bases in more than a dozen other states.

In Georgia, Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County, Robins Air Force Base in Houston County and Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County used the firefighting foam in training exercises and to put out fires when planes crashed.

The foam also sometimes leaked out of its storage tanks, the Journal-Constitution reported. Thousands of gallons of foam soaked into the ground or washed into creeks and wetlands, killing fish and imperiling those who use the affected waterways for fishing, swimming and boating, the newspaper reported.

The contamination, which is linked to a class of chemicals known collectively as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, was laid out in a series of site inspection reports completed by the Air Force last year.

Those reports concluded that despite high levels of groundwater pollution, there was no immediate risk to human health through contamination of drinking water.

That claim was met with skepticism, particularly in rural areas where many people rely on wells for drinking and irrigation.

In a statement, the Air Force said its response is constrained by a lack of regulation for PFAS chemicals. The two that are the focus of most testing are known as PFOS and PFOA.

Moody Air Force Base in south Georgia recorded the highest levels of groundwater contamination out of the three Georgia installations – more than 5,000 times the screening level.