PFAS COMMUNITY OUTREACH INFORMATION
September 2020
PFAS are a family of thousands of different chemicals which have been widely used in industrial and consumer products since the 1950s. The Navy developed a proactive policy to address past releases of PFAS at installations nationwide, as several PFAS are now of emerging public health concern. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a lifetime health advisory for two commonly used and studied PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). The EPA’s lifetime health advisories are non‐enforceable and non‐regulatory and are established to provide people, including the most sensitive populations, with a margin of protection from a lifetime exposure to PFOS and PFOA from drinking water.
The most common Navy activity that could have resulted in the historical release of PFOA, PFOS, and other PFAS to the environment is the use of firefighting foam (specifically aqueous film forming foam or AFFF) for testing, training, firefighting, and other life-saving emergency responses.
In response to the EPA’s lifetime health advisory, the Department of the Navy is implementing a comprehensive strategy to investigate and address PFOS and PFOA in the following areas at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Crane:
• Drinking water on NSA Crane – Installation drinking water sources were tested for the presence of PFAS in 2016. Results of the testing were significantly less than the EPA’s lifetime health advisory concentrations. A second round of testing on NSA Crane’s drinking water will be conducted in 2020 as well to ensure continued safety.
• Impacted public and private drinking water off installation investigation – In 2019, NSA Crane identified seven off-site drinking water wells that could theoretically have been impacted by potential PFAS activities. Of the seven samples collected, six were non-detect for PFOS/PFOA and the one remaining sample result reveled less than 1 part per trillion for PFOS/PFOA. The EPA has established a lifetime health advisory at levels that exceed 70 parts per trillion. The private drinking water well owners were notified of their individual results by phone and mail. More information is available at:
• Conducting assessments and investigations to develop cleanup plans – NSA Crane identified 13 sites located across the installation that have the potential to have released PFAS to the environment. A Site Investigation at those sites is planned for early late 2020/early 2021.
• Replacing Fire Fighting Foam containing PFOS and PFOA – AFFFF capabilities are maintained within the NSA Crane Fire Department. The PFOS and PFOA AFFFF inventory is scheduled for swap out before the end of 2020.
For more information concerning the Navy’s protective policy please visit: