The Pentagon would receive $10 million to carry out health screenings
in communities where drinking water has been contaminated by military
bases — like two in Montgomery and Bucks counties (Pennsylvania) – under an
appropriations bill amendment passed by the House on Thursday night.
The measure would be the military’s first step toward the health
tests, which residents and public officials have advocated to determine
the possible effects of ingesting the little-known chemicals.
Under another amendment passed Thursday, the Navy and the Air Force
would get $60 million to help address the contamination, which has shut
off tap water for hundreds of thousands across the country, and caused
headaches over remediation and debates about what level of chemicals are
safe to drink.
In Bucks and Montgomery Counties, about 70,000 residents have contended with tainted water running from their taps. The military is now testing nearly 400 bases for
the chemicals, known as PFOA and PFOS, and as of April had confirmed
water contamination at or near more than 35 of those bases.
If approved by the Senate, the amendments would provide the first
federal funding for a drinking-water crisis that has unfolded nationwide
with discoveries that firefighting chemicals used at military bases
have leaked into some public and private drinking-water wells.
The chemicals have been linked to certain cancers and other health
problems, but scientists are still researching the relatively unknown
compounds, and some disagree with the Environmental Protection Agency’s
health advisory level for drinking-water safety.
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