Military bases with high PFAS levels – but too low to trigger DOD support
Installation |
Wells with PFOA or PFOS above 4 parts per trillion (ppt) but below 70 ppt |
Alaska |
|
Eielson AFB |
11 |
Galena Forward Operating Location |
4 |
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson |
4 |
Arizona |
|
Air Force Plant 44 |
2 |
Luke AFB |
2 |
Arkansas |
|
Little Rock AFB |
8 |
California |
|
Castle AFB |
9 |
March AFB |
36 |
Mather AFB |
30 |
Presidio of Monterey – Sharpe Army Depot |
12 |
Travis AFB |
1 |
Colorado |
|
Peterson SFB |
101 |
Schriever SFB |
4 |
Delaware |
|
Dover AFB |
13 |
Florida |
|
Avon Park Air Force Reserve |
16 |
Cid Corry Station |
12 |
Homestead Air Reserve Base |
20 |
Hurlburt Field |
16 |
Saufley FLD NAS |
4 |
Whiting FLD NAS |
35 |
Georgia |
|
Moody AFB |
2 |
Illinois |
|
Scott AFB |
8 |
Kansas |
|
McConnell AFB |
11 |
Maine |
|
Brunswick NAS |
5 |
Loring AFB |
34 |
Naval Support Activity Cutler |
30 |
Maryland |
|
NSF Thurmont |
4 |
Massachusetts |
|
Otis ANG (Joint Base Cape Cod – Massachusetts Military Reservation) |
17 |
Michigan |
|
K.I. Sawyer AFB |
6 |
MTC-H Camp Grayling Airfield (installation-wide PAI) |
90 |
Minnesota |
|
Camp Ripley |
20 |
Montana |
|
Fort William Henry Harrison /JFHQ MT |
6 |
New Hampshire |
|
Pease AFB |
80 |
New Jersey |
|
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst |
12 |
New York |
|
Plattsburgh AFB |
16 |
North Carolina |
|
Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station |
2 |
Seymour Johnson AFB |
11 |
Oklahoma |
|
Tinker AFB |
25 |
Pennsylvania |
|
Biddle ANGB (formerly Horsham/Willow Grove ANG) |
11 |
Letterkenny Army Depot |
3 |
Mechanicsburg PA NAVICP |
6 |
Warminster NAWC AD |
179 |
Willow Grove NASJRB |
118 |
Rhode Island |
|
NAVAL AUX Landing Field |
42 |
South Carolina |
|
Beaufort SC MCAS |
3 |
McEntire Air Guard |
16 |
McEntire ANG AASF |
1 |
Shaw AFB |
205 |
South Dakota |
|
Ellsworth AFB |
30 |
Tennessee |
|
Arnold AFB |
8 |
Texas |
|
Goodfellow AFB |
25 |
Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland, Randolph, Ft. Sam Houston, Camp Bullis |
40 |
Reese AFB |
833 |
Sheppard AFB |
11 |
Virginia |
|
Oceana NAS |
13 |
Vint Hill Farms |
28 |
Washington |
|
Bremerton Naval Base |
2 |
Fairchild AFB |
367 |
JB Lewis McChord – Yakima Training Center |
67 |
Naval Base Kitsap Bangor |
1 |
Whidbey Island Naval Air Station |
77 |
Source: EWG, from DOD published drinking water testing under Section 345 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022
At some military bases, more than 100 nearby wells are contaminated with PFOA and PFOS above 4 ppt, according to DOD records. EWG couldn’t determine how many people these wells serve, but nearly one in seven Americans gets their water from private wells. Starting under the Obama administration, the DOD has provided clean drinking water to communities near military installations when levels of PFOA and PFOS top 70 ppt, the amount of the chemicals in drinking water the EPA had concluded was safe before it proposed its new standard. It has provided clean drinking water for people served by more than 1,800 wells. Under the Biden administration, the EPA has proposed a much lower limit for PFOA and PFOS – 4 ppt for each – as enforceable standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act. But the DOD is waiting for the EPA to finalize the standard before providing safe drinking water to neighbors with PFOA and PFOS levels in private wells higher than that level but below 70 ppt. Data published by the EPA show widespread PFAS contamination from a variety of sources, not only DOD sites, underscoring the urgent need for the EPA to issue strong standards. This foot-dragging flies in the face of new science showing PFOA and PFOS are more dangerous than has been understood until recently. In 2023 alone, the DOD has taken nearly 800 samples at private water wells above 4 ppt. The Pentagon is expected to conduct more tests. In the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022, Congress required the military to publish these drinking water results.