Welcome, and thank you for your interest in the NAS Whiting Field
Alabama Outlying Landing Field (or OLF)
PFAS Drinking Water Well Investigation.
This presentation is designed to be a summary of the
investigation, which includes information about the Navy's
PFAS sampling policy. Topics also include the
environmental cleanup process, designated sampling areas,
general information about PFAS, potential health effects associated
with PFAS exposures, the sampling process,
and, lastly, the investigation timeline.
Information about how to sign up to have your well tested
will also be provided.
Thank you for your understanding as we use
the online forum as an alternative to an in-person open house
meeting due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Navy is sampling drinking water wells near certain Navy
installations nationwide for per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (or PFAS).
In 2016, the EPA established a lifetime health advisory level
of 70 parts per trillion for two PFAS in drinking water,
specifically PFOA and PFOS.
Once released to the environment, these compounds
can move into the groundwater.
People can be exposed if these compounds are
in their drinking water.
The Navy established a proactive policy to ensure the
communities near its installations are not exposed
to drinking water with PFOA and/or PFOS above the EPA's
lifetime health advisory from a known or potential Navy release
of PFAS-containing materials.
The Navy has used firefighting foam containing PFOA and PFOS
at many of its installations.
The foam may have been released to the environment through
activities such as firefighting training, life-saving emergency
response, or storage and disposal operations.
The Navy no longer uses firefighting foam
for training activities.
Basewide investigations are being conducted at Navy
installations nationwide to identify and address PFAS
release areas. When a known or suspected PFAS release is
identified, the Navy typically conducts sampling of drinking
water wells located within one mile from the release area
in the direction of the groundwater flow.
The Navy has identified potential PFAS release areas at
outlying landing fields associated with NAS Whiting Field
that may reach drinking water wells in those areas.
The Navy's environmental cleanup program follows the
EPA's Comprehensive Environmental Response
Compensation and Liability Act regulations,
commonly known as Superfund.
At every step of the environmental cleanup program
at the NAS Whiting Field outlying landing fields, the
Navy works closely with the Alabama Department of
Environmental Protection, and public input is welcome.
The process is thorough and comprehensive. As a result,
it can be lengthy.
The first step is to identify releases of PFAS, followed by
investigation to determine where PFAS may be present
in the environment.
The Navy is conducting sampling around 11 outlying landing fields
associated with NAS Whiting Field.
Information about the potential PFAS release areas identified
and the sampling areas around each of these outlying landing
fields is provided on the webpages that can be accessed
by the links beside the map on the Virtual Open House webpage.
The next two slides provide information about PFAS and the
EPA's health advisory, which is being used by the Navy as the
action level for PFAS in drinking water investigations.
PFAS are a large group of manufactured chemicals that do
not occur naturally.
Many products have been made using PFAS since the 1940s, and
PFAS can last a long time once they are in the environment.
The EPA considers the drinking water health advisory level of
70 parts per trillion total of PFOA and PFOS protective for a
lifetime of exposure for even the most sensitive populations,
including fetuses and nursing infants of mothers
who are exposed.
Most people in the United States and other countries
have probably been exposed to PFAS and have PFAS in their blood.
The most common exposure occurs through drinking water and
eating food that contains PFAS.
PFAS in a mother's body can move from her blood into her
unborn child and from her breastmilk into her baby.
Very little exposure across the skin to PFAS occurs during
swimming, bathing, or showering.
There is no medical treatment that will remove PFAS from the
body, but levels decrease naturally over time if
exposure stops, for example, not drinking
water that contains PFAS.
Scientists are still learning about how exposure to PFAS
might affect people's health.
As seen on the slide, exposures to certain PFAS may lead to
health effects.
The next three slides provide a summary of the drinking water
sampling process, sampling and results timeline, and
information for those in the designated sampling area with
drinking water wells.
Drinking water well sampling is voluntary.
If you are in the designated sampling area, please use the
link or call the number at the left side of the poster.
The sampling is conducted at no cost to the property owner.
The Navy is working with a qualified contractor to
complete this sampling effort.
The Navy and contractors will take necessary precautions to
minimize exposure to COVID-19.
We have a contactless sampling procedure to
limit contact with the sampling team.
The left side of the poster provides a summary of
the sampling process.
The right side provides a summary of the COVID-19
precautions to be implemented during the drinking water
sampling effort.
The Navy will receive preliminary results from the
lab typically within a month of sampling.
A Navy representative will call property owners to provide
preliminary results, usually within 24 hours of receipt of
these results.
If preliminary results for PFOA and/or PFOS are above the EPA's
lifetime health advisory of 70 parts per trillion, the Navy
will provide bottled water for drinking and cooking to
residents at the property.
Property owners will receive a complete data package from the
Navy within approximately three months from sampling.
Drinking water well sampling is voluntary.
The Navy requires the property owner's permission to sample,
and there must be an adult 18 years or older
present for sampling.
Sampling takes less than an hour and is typically conducted
outside your home.
The Navy will begin scheduling drinking water well sampling
appointments on May 29th, with sampling appointments available
June 11th through the 18th, 2021, between the hours of
8 a.m. and 6 p.m.