The Air Force Will Stop Using Toxic Chemicals That Pollute Drinking Water

[yuiyoshida]

A toxic firefighting foam that may have tainted drinking water near military sites with cancer-causing chemicals will cease to be used across the country, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.

The announcement comes as Colorado health officials said this week it’s highly likely toxic chemicals found in three drinking water systems south of Colorado Springs stem from firefighting foam used at a nearby Air Force base, the Associated Press reported.

A $6.2 million contract to replace the foam with an “environmentally responsible foam” was awarded Monday, the Air Force said, as the agency tries to reduce the risk of contamination of soil and groundwater.

The Air Force has used foams made with chemicals related to perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, since 1970 to extinguish fuel-based fires. PFAS are a class of chemicals that resist heat, grease, and water. These substances have been used for more than half a century on fabric, food packaging, nonstick cookware, and fire-fighting foam rich. These foams are unlike fire retardants used in wildfire response, which contain about 85 percent water, 10 percent fertilizer, and 5 percent minor ingredients like colorants, thickeners, corrosion inhibitors, stabilizers, and bactericides, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

In the past two decades PFAS and offshoot chemicals like perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), have fallen out of favor as they have been linked with birth defects, various forms of cancer, and immune system dysfunction. Some firefighting agencies across the country, as well as school districts, have been curtailing their use for that reason. Though now mostly phased out in the United States, PFAS are highly resistant to breakdown in the environment, and for decades were disposed of in watersheds because they were unregulated.

https://thinkprogress.org/air-force-fighting-fires-toxic-foams-6dbae9e4788d