Military To Check Groundwater Contamination Locally, Around Nation: Report

HORSHAM, PA -- The people spoke. The government listened.

Just days after local lawmakers demanded that the Navy investigate possible health risks associated with groundwater contamination at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove, the Department of Defense announced a national initiative.

A total of 664 military sites will be looked at, a report states. Eight of those sites are in Pennsylvania, including Willow Grove, the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and the North Penn U.S. Army Reserve Command in Worcester.

California has the most sites, with 85, followed by Texas, with 57, Florida, with 38, and Alaska and South Carolina, each with 26, according to the Associated Press, who broke the story.

Reps. Todd Stephens (R-Montgomery) and Bernie O’Neill (R-Bucks) issued a formal request last week for the Navy to fund an independent health risk assessment study to analyze the situation and the safety of Horsham and Warminster residents.

They were joined in their plea by three U.S. Congressmen from the area, who penned another letter supporting further investigation. Congressmen Mike Fitzpatrick (R/PA-08), Patrick Meehan (R/PA-07) and Brendan Boyle (D/PA-13) all signed.

“We believe it is imperative that affected families in Warminster and Horsham have a complete understanding of when and how the Navy determined the nature of well contamination, as well as its response to it,” the lawmakers wrote. “We believe our constituents deserve a full accounting of the well contamination and steps taken to address it.”

The chemicals found on the base were perfluorinated compounds, including perfluorooctane sulfonoate (PFOS) and perfluoroctanoic acid (PFOA). It is believed many of the chemicals originally came from firefighting training on the base property, although the government's investigative teams are not sure on that point, Stephens said.

The Horsham Safe Water Coalition, a community organization that lobbied for the election of candidates last fall that they thought would best address water safety, says that PFOA and PFOS may cause cancer. They cite studies from the American Cancer Society that indicate the long-term damage these chemicals do to both humans and the environment.

The studies show that workplace exposure to PFOA has been linked to an increase in testicular, bladder, and kidney cancer.

The Coalition, citing an Environmental Impact Statement issued by the EPA, said that the water is progressing through the soil and could contaminate humans and the environment in other ways than just drinking water.

Stephens says the questions which the Navy needs to answer are: is our health at risk from past exposure? If so, what is the risk to our health? And what can we do to protect our families and minimize any long-term effect of exposure to these compounds?

"To date, no one has a solution on how to stop this," said Coalition member Tom Orlando, in an email to Patch.

He alleges that the contamination, although made public recently, has been known in government circles for some time.

"The (Horsham) council had the opportunity over the years to obtain grants and financial resources at no cost to the taxpayer to monitor the water, and did not," Orlando added.

Orlando suggested that the Navy had knowledge of the contamination up to 20 years ago. The U.S. Congressmen shared a degree of skepticism in this regard as well, specifically asking in their letter: "on what exact date did the Navy learn that PFOA and PFOS were present in public and private water wells in Warminster, Horsham and Warrington?"

Stephens was quick to reiterate, as he did last October, that the water is safe to drink, but noted that there could be other side effects.

The Horsham Water and Sewer Authority has taken the affected wells offline, he said.

“Our families deserve answers,” Stephens said. “I urge the Navy to address this as quickly as possible.”

>>DOCUMENT: U.S. Geological Survey Hydrogeological Investigation of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove