Aqueous film forming foams (AFFFs) were developed in the 1960s and contained multiple classes of PFASs. Operations at the base that used AFFFs generated large plumes of PFASs. Sources included a fire-training area (FT-02), AFFF retention lagoons, airplane crash sites, base operations apron, airplane hangars, fire station buildings, wastewater treatment seepage lagoons, and landfill leachate. At WAFB over 10,000 people either worked or lived on the base, with B-52 bombers and KC-135A refueling airplanes that operated at the base until its closure in 1993. Until the late 1990s, drinking water for the military personnel and civilians drank water coming from on-base water supply wells in the local upper aquifer. PFASs were first discovered at WAFB in the groundwater collected in 1998 and 1999 (Moody et al., 2003) at FT-02. However, data for groundwater concentrations from the historical drinking water well field was first identified in 2010. <b> </b>In 2010, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) began sampling the entire base for PFASs, randomly picking groundwater samples from each Installation Restoration Program (IRP) sites that had active monitoring. In 2015, MDEQ began to look for water at the base that remained in mothballed pipes, tanks, and other water containing equipment from the time of the closure of WAFB. Contaminated “old” water that could be found would show PFAS concentrations that were being consumed by people in the past. Numerous water samples have been found that are believed to date to the era when the groundwater was used as a drinking source. Water has been found in an old water heater, a softener tank, and old hydrants at the base. Additional samples will be collected this fall as additional sources are identified. The data collected so far indicate the extent and complexity of PFAS contamination at this former base and that fire training areas are not the only significant sources of PFAS contamination at former military sites. Historical concentration of PFASs that are believed to date from the time when the base was operational and close to its closure date, along with current groundwater concentrations, will be presented. The WAFB can be used as a reference site providing insight into the types of studies required, data gap analysis, and potential for future scientific enquiry on the fate, transport, and risks of exposure from sites that are contaminated with PFAS.

Historical and current groundwater concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) at the former Wurtsmith Air Force base (WAFB)

251st National Meeting (2016)

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