Residents east of Luke Air Force Base are on edge after learning drinking water in their community may be contaminated following tests that detected high levels of toxic chemicals from a fire extinguishing foam used for decades on the military installation.
Sampling results from last week indicated the presence of Perfluorooctanoic Acid and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate — known as PFOA and PFOS, respectively — at levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s lifetime health advisory for drinking water. The chemicals can be traced to an aviation industry-standard firefighting foam Luke began using in the 1970s, Luke spokesman Col. Ryan Richardson said on Feb. 23.
“As a result of that, it’s believed that some of that leaked down through into the groundwater and potentially caused this contamination,” he said.
