Chemicals found in Fort Bragg water systems, report says
This story has been updated to reflect where Fort Bragg’s supply comes from.
Two potentially cancer-causing chemicals were found in water that is supplied to Fort Bragg, a report released Thursday said.
The report by the Environmental Working Group found that seven chemicals were found in Fort Bragg’s water, from 2013 to 2019.
Fort Bragg’s is supplied by the Fayetteville Public Works Commission and Harnett County Department of Public Utilities.
The seven compounds are part of a chemical family known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The chemicals in Fort Bragg’s water include perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS).
The Environmental Protection Agency “found that there is suggestive evidence that PFOS and PFOA may cause cancer,” according to the agency’s website.
The levels of PFOS and PFOA in the water systems on Fort Bragg are below the EPA’s guidelines for the compounds, which is 70 parts per trillion. The maximum level for both chemicals is less than 50 parts per trillion, the report said.
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PFOA also is known as C8 because it has eight carbon atoms. PFOS also has eight carbon atoms.
The Fort Bragg test results are included in the report, which found that PFAS chemicals are confirmed at 328 military installations and suspected at 350 more.
The levels at Fort Bragg are lower than many military installations. The Environmental Working Group discovered through Freedom of Information Act requests that 14 installations had PFAS detections above 1 million parts per trillion.
The highest levels were found at England Air Force Base in Louisiana, which had a level of 20.7 million parts per trillion of a PFAS compound. Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina has a level of 2.64 million parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS.
The highest reading in North Carolina was at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, which had a level of 312,000 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS.
The group said in a statement released Thursday that the Pentagon has used firefighting foam made with PFAS for decades. Use of the foam, which is known as aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, disproportionately exposed military service members and their families to the chemicals, it said.
The levels at Fort Bragg are concerning even if they’re below EPA standards, according to the Environmental Working Group.
Melanie Benesh, legislative attorney for the group, said that some states have standards that are lower than the ones set by the EPA. She also said that the EPA guidelines don’t include the other five chemicals that were found in Fort Bragg water systems.
Fort Bragg officials referred questions about the levels of PFAS on post to the Department of the Army, which provided a statement Friday from a Department of Defense spokesman.
The Defense Department must follow the Safe Water Act in locations where its men and women drink the water, according to Chuck Prichard, the spokesman. If a state has a drinking water standard, the department must comply with it, he said.
“North Carolina does not have an approved state standard for PFAS in drinking water,” Prichard said.
Staff writer Steve DeVane can be reached at sdevane@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3572.