The Air Force says it is using innovative methods to address the compounds at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the organization embraces new federal guidelines for the presence of PFAS in drinking water.
So far, the , Air Force , says it has spent more than$ 2.2 billion nationwide to identify and mitigate PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, sometimes called “forever chemicals”.
Of that amount, the , Air Force , has spent nearly$ 59 million to address the chemicals at Wright Patterson, said a spokesman for the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center.
Wright- Patterson is one of 191 setups where the transfer of PFAS has been confirmed, the official said.
Through the Environmental Protection Agency Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ( also known as the” Superfund” process ), 26 AFFF — watery movie- forming foam — transfer websites have been investigated at Wright- Patterson, said , Mark Kinkade, the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center official.
The next phase is restorative analysis to completely define the presence of PFAS in dirt, groundwater, and area water, he said.
Function at Wright- Patterson has included five new engineering studies in water treatment, PFAS destruction, and modeling, he said, including the” first- always gravity upflow basin system”.
An engineered cement advertising is being used in the system to eliminate PFAS from water and surface water. According to Kinkade, this technique represents” a major advance in this industry.”
Leaning ahead
” The key here is that we have a strategy, and we will utilize it” , , Jenni Dorsey- Spitz, an economic technical advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the , Air Force , for Installations, Energy, and Environment, said in a recent , Air Force , speech addressing function at all affected , Air Force , setups.
” We are n’t starting from scratch”, she said. Without a regulatory standard, the Air Force leaped forward to start addressing PFAS, and we will continue to advance with the new standard.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals found in the air, water, and soil and can take centuries to break down in the environment.
At Wright- Patterson, the , Air Force , installed granular activated carbon treatment systems on two on- base wells where PFAS was present above screening levels.
In response to questions from the , Dayton Daily News, Kinkade said,” We are also implementing removal actions to treat impacted groundwater and surface water at five on-base locations where aqueous film-forming foam containing PFAS was released.
As part of the remedial investigation, over 170 monitoring wells have been installed on the base and over 480 soil samples, 313 groundwater samples, 87 sediment samples, 67 surface/stormwater samples and 48 lysimeter samples have been collected, Kinkade said.
New EPA standards
In April, the , Environmental Protection Agency , ( EPA ) for the first time issued a national regulation limiting the amount of PFAS found in drinking water.
To reduce exposure to PFAS chemicals, the government’s EPA  stated that it will be necessary for public water utilities to test for six different PFAS chemicals.
Those include two of the common PFAS chemicals found in AFFF, a foam once used by the military and civilian aviation to control petroleum fires, the , Air Force , said.
In May, Dorsey- Spitz, the environmental technical advisor, said the newly established , EPA , levels will help the , Air Force , detect and treat PFAS.
The MCL ( maximum contaminant levels ) provides clear recommendations for what the regulatory community believes is a reasonable threshold for assessing risk to human health, she said.
Since 2015, the , Air Force , has inspected sites at 204 installations to determine whether AFFF may have been used or released into the environment.
Of those, 191 installations had confirmed releases of PFAS, including Wright- Patterson.
City of Dayton , lawsuit
The city of , Dayton , in 2021 filed a$ 300 million lawsuit against Wright- Patterson and the , U. S. Department of Defense.
The Dayton Daily News , reported in March last year that the case was transferred to a federal court in , South Carolina , in 2021 under a statute called “multi- district litigation”. It was consolidated with some 10, 000 other PFAS- related lawsuits, where little action has taken place.
To address PFAS contamination where it’s found, the , Air Force , says it has, among other measures, provided alternate drinking water to impacted private well owners, funded water purveyors to install filtration systems, and took interim response actions such as installing pump and treat systems to prevent further migration of PFAS in groundwater.
The new , EPA , standards could mean more sampling of off- base drinking water supplies, Dorsey- Spitz said.
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