When most people think of PFAs, they think of Dupont and other industries dumping their chemicals into their drinking water. But most of us don’t think of the military. Water tests have been done on 867 private wells near military bases near Seattle, Washington. Guess what? They test positive for excessively high levels of PFAs, endangering the nearby residents.
Specifically, excessive PFAs have been found in 860 private wells near ten military bases. But those are just the wells that have been tested. There could be hundreds more. Even more concerning is the fact that 551 of those wells had PFA above the EPA’s safety level. 121 Wells had such high levels that, legally, an emergency declaration should take place, and freshwater should be distributed to those residents.
So far, nothing has been done because the military is still evaluating the risk of PFAs to human health. In other words, they are stalling in order to avoid a public relations nightmare, not to mention having to compensate people who have gotten sick and even died.
The most likely source of the PFAs is military firefighting foam. It is used to put out fires caused by jets and other military applications and is full of PFAs. Of course, they don’t have a good cleanup process for cleaning up soil and water exposed to this foam, so it has been building and working its way into the groundwater supply.
In our bodies, PFAs can disrupt our hormones, compromise our immune system, and increase our risk for prostate, testicular, and kidney cancer. It also increases our blood pressure and is especially dangerous to pregnant women.
More than 150 households near the Army’s Yakima Training Center are grappling with PFAS contamination above the EPA’s proposed advisory levels. The Navy is also looking into potential contamination at the shipyard in Bremerton, the Undersea Warfare Center in Keyport, the fuel depot in Manchester, and Naval Magazine Indian Island. Meanwhile, on Whidbey Island, more than two dozen homes near the Naval Air Station have returned with chemicals above the EPA’s current advisory levels.
This isn’t just a Seattle, WA problem. According to an Environmental Working Group analysis, about 2,805 drinking water wells near 63 military bases in 29 states are contaminated above the EPA’s proposed health standards but below the military’s benchmark to provide access to clean water.
Through the 2022 fiscal year, the military has spent more than $2 billion to begin investigating its role in polluting communities with the chemicals, and it plans to spend almost $7 billion more. But don’t wait! Protect yourself and your family from PFAs with a multi-stage water filtration system, like what you find in our premium alkaline water ionizers.
