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Thursday, April 27, 2017

Nearly 400 military bases must be tested for drinking-water contamination

Contamination from former or current military installations has ignited a nationwide review of water on or around bases that used a firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals.

The military is now testing nearly 400 bases and has confirmed water contamination at or near more than three dozen, according to an analysis of data by the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. The new numbers offer the best look to date at the potential scope of the problem.

But despite more than $150 million spent on the effort so far, the process has been slow and seemingly disjointed. The Air Force, for example, has completed sampling at nearly all of its targeted bases; the Navy, barely 10 percent. The Army has not begun. The branches and the Pentagon say they are coordinating, but have varying responses on how many bases must be tested, and limited information about remediation timelines and cost.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Camp LeJeune's water killed my best friend and his doctor dad last year, both with cancers attributed to that contaminated site where they lived onbase for six years between 1957 and 1963.

Anonymous said...

My son is in the army. It's disgusting how they treat these young men - the ones who are risking their lives to protect ours. It is the most demoralizing and inefficient organization on the planet.
If your son or daughter is considering that career, convince them to do something else. It is one screwed up branch of our military.
No wonder we can't win wars.

Anonymous said...

They linked alway to the 1980s now women dying from breast cancer. Did the government settle any cases