JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- For the past few days, we have reported on a Department of Defense report about contaminated wells on its many bases.
Six locations were identified in Florida: Pensacola, Patrick AFB, Cape Canaveral, Whiting, Eglin AFB and Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
A 2016 study of the 17 shallow water monitoring wells at NAS discovered contamination nearly nineteen times the EPA recommended level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt.)
The source of the contaminants comes from the chemicals used for firefighting, commonly known as PFOS and PFOA.
The NAS Command has referred all inquiries to the Department of Defense, but after our reports, it has now issued a statement to ensure that the base community is safe and the contaminated wells are not connected to the drinking water supply.
Naval Air Station Jacksonville Statement:
You may have seen recent media reports regarding testing for perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in groundwater at DoD installations.
The safety and security of our service members, families and communities remains the top priority at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville. This includes the safety of the drinking water aboard the station.
With that in mind, here are the facts about the drinking water aboard NAS Jacksonville:
The drinking water at NAS Jacksonville comes from the Floridian Aquifer - a limestone formation deep underground. There are three deep wells, all greater than 1,000 feet deep, which are used for drinking water. The station also has a water connection with Jacksonville Electric Authority to supplement the drinking water system.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires all public water systems serving more than 10,000 people to sample and test for several currently unregulated contaminants. PFCs such as perfluorooctanesulfonate acid (PFOS) and perflouroctanoic acid (PFOA) are on the list of contaminants to sample and test.
PFOS and PFOA are part of a class of man-made chemicals used in many industrial and consumer products. Perfluorinated compounds such as PFOS and PFOA were used to make coatings and products that are oil and water repellent such as for carpets, clothing, and paper packaging for food and cookware. They were also contained in foams used for fighting petroleum fires primarily at airfields and in a number of industrial processes because it rapidly extinguishes the fire protecting personnel and property.
Drinking water at NAS Jacksonville is routinely tested in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act. All results for the NAS Jacksonville drinking water system were non-detect for these PFCs at detection limits of 0.02 ug/l and 0.04 ug/l respectively. These limits are in micrograms/liter, or parts per billion, and they are below the EPA Lifetime Health Advisory level of 0.07 parts per billion.
The information published in the DoD report that the Military Times article references that PFC compounds that were found or detected in shallow groundwater monitoring wells at NAS Jacksonville. No surface water or shallow groundwater is used as a drinking water source.
NAS Jacksonville is committed to providing safe drinking water to our employees and residents. If testing results were to give any indication that the drinking water were unsafe, it would be promptly communicated to installation personnel and residents until such time that the drinking water was once again safe to drink.
Again, the safety of our service members, employees, families and community is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring safe drinking water.