The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been steadily mapping the spread of PFAS contamination across the nation. Here's an overview of their findings:
"In May 2018, the Pentagon disclosed a list of 36 U.S. military installations where tests found on-base drinking water contamination exceeding the Environmental Protection Agency’s lifetime health advisory for the fluorinated compounds PFOS and PFOA. The Pentagon also identified 90 installations where PFOS or PFOA released on-base has contaminated groundwater, in some cases migrating to off-base civilian communities."
"After cross-checking the Pentagon’s lists with our previously published data, we have added 78 military bases to our map. By our best count, as of July 2018, there are 172 known PFAS contamination sites in 40 states – more than three times the number of known sites when we first published the map in June 2017."
"But that number does not include public water systems with PFAS contamination. In May 2018, an EWG analysis of unreleased data estimated that more than 1,500 drinking water systems, serving up to 110 million Americans, may be contaminated with PFOA, PFOS and similar fluorinated chemicals. The EPA previously said about 200 systems were contaminated, but that number did not include systems with contamination below the EPA’s reporting threshold, which is too high to protect public health."
SOURCE: EWG
