Earth Protect Blog

By Anita Snow

The Associated Press

PHOENIX » The Air Force says it will be distributing bottled water to thousands of residents and business owners near its base in suburban Phoenix until at least April, marking the latest case of chemicals from military firefighting efforts contaminating the water supply in a nearby community.

Luke Air Force Base announced this month that studies showed high levels of contaminants had affected drinking water for about 6,000 people in 1,600 homes as well as a few neighboring businesses.

A contractor is scheduling deliveries of drinking water to the homes of people who picked up their first bottles this week, said Sean Clements, chief of public affairs for the 56th Fighter Wing at the base.

Those deliveries will go on until a long-term filtration facility can be set up in April, Clements said Thursday.

Similar contamination tied to the use of firefighting foam has been found in water supplies near dozens of military sites in Arizona, Colorado and other states and has triggered hundreds of lawsuits. Growing evidence that it’s dangerous to be exposed to the chemicals found in the foam has prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to consider setting a maximum level for those chemicals in drinking water nationwide.

But they aren’t regulated now, meaning the base can’t be punished even though the EPA says the chemicals stay in the body for long periods and may cause adverse health effects.

A statement from Luke Air Force Base last week said testing had detected levels of perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate above the EPA’s health advisory for how much should be consumed in drinking water over a person’s lifetime.

The contamination problem is well-known in New Mexico, where chemicals from several bases have seeped into local water supplies.

The Air Force Academy in 2019 said unsafe levels of PFAS chemicals were found in groundwater at four sites on its campus.

The chemicals also have been discovered around Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.