What we know about per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington
Drinking water in a residential well is 50,000 times above EPA advisory.
The Pentagon is withholding important data.
By Pat Elder
June 22, 2023
November 15, 2018 - A firefighter for Navy Region Northwest Fire and Emergency Services douses flames during a joint live fire training onboard Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. - U.S. Navy photo
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I will be travelling to Japan in September and October with a delegation from Veterans for Peace to address audiences and to test surface waters for PFAS in 20 cities. It is expensive! Please help us!
40 tests kits will cost 440,000 Yen - or $3,160. Please make a note that your contribution is for the Japan delegation. I promised my wife I wouldn’t spend any more of our retirement on test kits. - Pat Elder ——————————————————————————————————
Dear friends in Washington,
The Navy tested well water at a residence just outside of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in February 2020 and found 177 parts per trillion (ppt) of Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Subsequent testing found levels as high as 200 ppt, which is 50,000 times above the EPA’s interim health advisory of .004 ppt for PFOA in drinking water. PFOA is likely the deadliest of all PFAS compounds.
It’s been four years since the nation’s top toxicologist Linda Birnbaum warned that drinking water limits for PFOA ought to be set at .1 part per trillion because of research linking tiny exposures of PFOA to pancreatic cancer. PFOA is closely associated with higher cholesterol, changes to liver function, reduced immune response, thyroid disease, and kidney and testicular cancer. It devastates the developing fetus.
PFOA levels in human breast milk have been found 40,000 times over the EPA guideline for drinking water.
Back in 2016 the EPA set a health advisory of 70 ppt for the combination of PFOS and PFOA in drinking water. As stated above, the updated health advisory levels are now 0.004 ppt for PFOA and 0.02 ppt for PFOS, but the Navy prefers using the outdated limit of 70 ppt. The Navy says it is “currently evaluating how we will address the new interim health advisories for PFOA and PFOS.” Apparently, they’ve decided to ignore the more stringent advisory to the detriment of public health.
These chemicals are powerful. They don’t go away, and they continue to accumulate in our bodies.
The Navy is criminally negligent for not sharing this information with the public until now! Women who are pregnant or may become pregnant should not drink this water – and neither should anyone else.
By August of 2017 the DOD had identified wells contaminated with PFOS and PFOA at 401 active and closed installations across the country. They also tested 2,445 off-base municipal and private drinking water systems. They omitted Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, (NBK Bangor). We don’t know much here.
Drinking water samples were collected from 292 drinking water supply wells within 1 mile downgradient of potential PFAS source areas at NBK Bangor. PFAS were detected in samples from 80 wells, with two detections exceeding 70 ppt. We don’t know the exact concentration, the locations, or the depth of all the wells tested. We also don’t know the analytical results of other PFAS compounds analyzed.
At Residence 1, the combined concentration of PFOS/PFOA totaled 77 ng/L. Following the initial sampling event, the resident “made a change to their drinking water fixture,” apparently installing a water filtration system. Since then, the levels have been in the single digits. The bottled water initially supplied by the Navy was discontinued and no further evaluations are deemed necessary by the Navy.
At Residence 2, where the 200 ppt level was detected in 2020, bottled water was supplied and continues to be supplied by the Navy until a long-term solution is implemented.
We cannot trust the Navy. The region is likely to be heavily contaminated and many thousands of lives are threatened based on comparable DOD facilities where analytical testing results in a variety of environmental media have been made public. The Navy’s psychological operation would have us believe that the releases of PFAS have been caused almost exclusively from the use of firefighting foams and that the number one pathway to human ingestion is through drinking contaminated water.
The Navy uses copious amounts of PFAS in multiple applications on base, from chrome plating to engine cleaning, although they don’t address this in their public propaganda.
PFAS is directly released to surface soils, and it leaches to groundwater. The groundwater contaminates surface water and marine sediment. PFAS tainted waters pour through drainage ditches to Clear Creek, Hood Canal, Liberty Bay, and Dyes Inlet. Fish and shellfish are likely contaminated, but the Navy doesn’t want to address this in its public outreach. It’s a shame because most of the PFAS in humans is from the food we eat, especially the seafood.
70 private wells were sampled east of the base. NAVFAC, June, 2023.
The Navy controls the narrative. We are mere spectators while the press and the state are along for the ride and dutifully relay the propaganda.
PFOS may travel up to 20 miles in groundwater and surface water. Why is the Navy limiting the scope of their drinking water investigation to one mile downstream of known discharges? They say 33 of 70 wells sampled had levels under the 70 parts per trillion EPA regional Screening Level. This is tragic.
The EPA has followed the science in establishing these miniscule health advisories. It’s too bad they don’t enforce them. The EPA is perpetually on the sidelines while the Navy is on a mission and can’t be bothered with trivial things like poisoning people around the world.
All hope in your back yard lies in Olympia with the Inslee administration. Deal with it.
Why don’t we have a Site Inspection at NBK Bangor? We don’t know much because they’re keeping the analytical results from us.
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A source, at one time close to the command, describes it this way: “The Navy says they tested a bunch of wells and only two had problems and they are being addressed. The contamination was the result of the use of firefighting foams which were found to be dangerous, so the Navy stopped using them. Story over. Everything is fine and dandy.”
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Test the water of Clear Creek where it passes under Trigger Ave. The Navy allows fishing at the nearby Trident Lakes Recreation Area, but we cannot access that location.
Activists have a good reason to flyer the neighborhood south of the base to determine if the Navy actually tested these wells. If so, the Navy must provide us with the levels of all 18 PFAS compounds they say they found.
It is also important to know how deep the wells are because it takes years for PFAS to make its way into deeper soils. The well that was found to contain a concentration of 200 ppt of PFOA was shallow, at 84 feet below ground surface. The drinking water at NBK Bangor is obtained from on-base water supply wells which draw water from the Sea-level aquifer and are screened between 260 and 350 ft below ground surface. The Navy reports no issues with the water drawn from the deeper aquifer. Yet.
Is the deep aquifer completely protected from the contaminants?
The Navy explains, “The likelihood of PFAS-contaminated groundwater migrating into the Sea-Level and Deep aquifers is low due to the low permeability of the Upper confining unit that overlies the Sea-level aquifer.” Notice they’re saying the likelihood is low - rather than claiming it’s impossible for the contaminants to reach the lower aquifer.
Of course, we don’t know because they still have not published the all-important Site Inspection pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) process which will show the depths of the wells tested and their corresponding levels.
We’re stuck here because they apparently
don’t want to tell us how bad it is.
In Maryland the Navy claimed that the contamination in the surficial aquifer at the Naval Research Laboratory – Chesapeake Bay Detachment is completely contained and could not reach the lower aquifer, but this assertion was challenged by the Maryland Department of the Environment which argued that there could be breaks in the confining layer. This is important considering that the chemicals can travel so far in water. In the end, Maryland authorities made their esoteric point while continuing to allow the Navy to do whatever it wants. In these matters, the DOD dictates environmental policy in the U.S.
Where is the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology in these discussions? Do they merely act as a rubber stamp for DOD reports? Even the rubber stamps are missing! There has not been a single public filing by the Department of Ecology in the Navy’s records for the last six years.
CERCLA is otherwise known as the Superfund law. Here are the steps in the process. It’s important to note that environmental “cleanup” may be impossible to achieve with PFAS. How do we clean up hundreds of miles of riverbed sediment that is caked with PFAS? How do we extract PFAS from an oyster? We can’t. These chemicals don’t go away. This is a new reality, an existential threat to humanity, in a league with the nuclear weapons at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
The joke is on us. The CERCLA process is stalled at NBK Bangor.
The Navy says toxicological information will be evaluated during the Site Inspection. How long do we have to wait? Site Inspections were completed on hundreds of bases before 2019. It leads us to believe the Navy has a lot to hide here.
The Navy requires the public to file Freedom of Information Act requests for files that were publicly available two years ago. Activists are waiting years for results around the world. The lights are going out.
In addition to exposure from groundwater, soil, surface water, and sediment, people may be exposed to PFAS through the consumption of locally harvested fish, shellfish, waterfowl, wild game, berries, nuts, plants, fungi, etc. The air may also be contaminated.
PFAS in the air and dust
We don’t know the levels of PFAS in surface water at Kitsap-Bangor. It’ll be in the Site Inspection. The public will eventually come to understand the significance here, not only as it relates to the fish but because the carcinogens become part of the sediment and the riverbanks. As the waters ebb, the PFAS is baked by the sun. It dries and is lifted by the wind. It forms as dust and settles in our lungs and homes.
The Centers for Disease Control reported that a home in Martinsburg, West Virginia outside of the Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base had dust containing 16.4 million ppt of PFHxS and 13.9 million ppt of PFOS. The Air Force reported that surface waters pouring out of the base contained 8,100 ppt of PFHxS and 3,400 ppt of PFOS. These two chemicals were found at shocking levels in the blood serum of those who live in the home. (Predictably, the Veterans Administration refuses to test the blood of veterans for PFAS. ) Think about the carcinogenic dust when you vacuum or sweep. Think wet mop. Change your heat/AC filter frequently. The Navy doesn’t want you to know about the dust so they’re not telling you.
Throughout vast areas of the country drinking water supplied by municipal providers is nearly free of PFAS. In these areas, drinking water is likely to be the third most prevalent pathway to human ingestion, behind the fish and the dust.
Wastewater Treatment Plants
The Navy is also leaving out a discussion of wastewater treatment plants on its bases in its public pap. These facilities receive PFAS-laden solids and liquids generated from machine shops and electroplating operations, housing areas, and other locations. These waste streams may contain exorbitant concentrations of PFAS.
Generally, PFOS heads into surface waters as liquid effluent while PFOA becomes part of the sludge. Sludge is primarily shipped off-base to the Olympic View Landfill. Activists may consider testing the Union River which drains this area.
The effluent from the wastewater plant is discharged to the sewer, which flows off-Base to the Brownsville Sewer Plant. The sludge is transported to either Eastern or Southwestern Washington for composting or land application. Where is this tremendously lethal mix being spread? The agricultural produce must be tested and people who consume the agricultural produce must be warned.
The Navy graphic below shows how PFOS in a stream at the Naval Research Laboratory – Chesapeake Bay Detachment spiked from 137 ppt to 1,230 ppt as it picks up the effluent from the base’s wastewater treatment plant.
A stream on the Naval Research Laboratory – Chesapeake Bay Detachment in Maryland, flowing from the top left, shows an 8-fold increase of PFOS levels as water runs past the wastewater treatment plant on base. (Red X) - Figure, U.S. Navy
Aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) use at NBK Bangor
AFFF was removed from the fire station at NBK Bangor and given to the Forest Service. This is peculiar because AFFF is for “Class B” fires. A Class B fire is a fire involving flammable liquids or flammable gases, petroleum, greases, tars, oils, etc. It was not developed for putting out forest fires. Even so, NBK Bangor used AFFF for house fires and brush fires. A brush fire at the end of Thresher Avenue Road received approximately a ½ acre foam response. (One teaspoon of the foam could contaminate a city’s drinking water reservoir.) Another brushfire at the end of Grampus Road was doused with the carcinogenic foams. AFFF was frequently used during training sessions at the helipad.
There were multiple historical landfills/disposal sites for AFFF on base. They sprayed AFFF in multiple locations on base while testing the firetruck systems. They coated car fires with the foam. AFFF was used near the wetland leading to Cattail Creek.
The base’s incinerator was a half mile from the Main Gate. Materials containing PFAS were likely incinerated here. The compounds don’t burn. They just coat the ground downwind of the smokestack, starting the process of recycled contamination all over again. The incinerator would burn TCE waste, a deadly practice. The incinerator was fired by fuel. The supervisors in the shops would not segregate waste that was burned. The operation was shut down by the EPA for “burning and producing cyanides.” That was back when the EPA flexed its regulatory muscle.
Fish and Seafood
The Navy will not address the contamination of the seafood we consume. Once we know the PFAS concentrations in surface waters we’ll have a pretty good idea how poisoned the seafood is. Typically, the levels of PFOS are several hundred to several thousand times the ambient water levels. Fish have been found in waters near military installations with nearly 10 million parts per trillion of PFOS.
In Washington, the filet of a Smallmouth Bass was found to contain 93,800 parts per trillion of PFOS in Lake Washington. The state warns anglers not to eat Smallmouth Bass from the lake, although most of the fish throughout the state are unregulated in this regard. Inland fish typically have more PFAS than fish in the sea. Meanwhile, Washington has set “State Action Levels” of 10 ppt for PFOA and 15 ppt for PFOS in drinking water. The action levels represent the maximum level in tap water that the Department of Health considers safe for long-term consumption.
It’s not safe to consume drinking water with these concentrations.
PFOS is likely to be present in seafood from Sinclair Inlet, Dyes Inlet, Dabob Bay, Clear Creek, Hood Canal, or Liberty Bay. We just don’t know because the state has not conducted a robust fish testing regime. We don’t know what’s in the fish or the steamer clams, the butter clams, horse clams, cockles, and softshell clams. We don’t know what’s in the geoduck and the oysters. These may be important pathways to human ingestion.
Don’t spend your time engaging with the Navy. They’re on a mission. You must apply pressure on your state government to check the military’s wanton destruction of the environment and disregard for human health.
Sources
Final Preliminary Assessment for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Naval Base Kitsap Bangor and Associated Special Areas Silverdale, Washington - December 2020 - Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Northwest Silverdale, Washington
https://pacific.navfac.navy.mil/Portals/72/Northwest/Documents/1_Final_PA_Bangor_12_2020.pdf
Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis Long-term Solutions for Residential Drinking Water Naval Base Kitsap Bangor Silverdale, Washington June 2023 - Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Northwest Silverdale, Washington https://pacific.navfac.navy.mil/Portals/72/Northwest/Documents/NBK_Bangor_EECA_TO_PRINT.pdf?ver=mLVoRZ1jWaIPuoFTFsgVPg%3d%3d
Financial support from the Downs Law Group makes this work possible.
The firm is working to provide legal representation to individuals with a high likelihood of exposure to PFAS and other contaminants.
Interested in joining a multi-base class action law suit pertaining to illnesses stemming from various kinds of environmental contamination?
Join the Veterans & Civilians Clean Water Alliance Facebook group.