Tucson is suing the federal government, claiming chemicals released from an Air Force base are permanently contaminating the city’s drinking water supply.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the city said it wants compensation for damages caused by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl-based substances released at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The city also wants the Air Force to pay or reimburse the cost of a treatment system to remove PFAAS from incoming raw water.
The Air Force base “has taken inadequate action to stop or mitigate the continued migration of the PFAS contamination into Plaintiff’s water supply and any assistance (financial or otherwise) it has committed to will not continue for as long as necessary,” the lawsuit alleges. city. in court documents, which name the United States of America as a defendant in the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25452633-tucsonpfascomplaint/?embed=1
Tuscon has been reporting PFAS contamination for more than a decade
PFAS are long-lived chemicals that have been used since the 1940s in a wide range of industries and products – from fire retardants and popcorn bags to personal care items and clothing – that are now found in water worldwide. PFAS are considered hazardous substances that can cause serious health problems with long-term exposure, even in small amounts.
Studies show that exposure to PFAS can negatively impact the body’s immune and cardiovascular systems, as well as the response to vaccines. Studies have also linked oral exposure to PFAS to adverse health effects on the liver, kidneys and immune system, and to cancer, according to the EPA.
The city first reported on the chemicals in 2013 after finding an average of 28 parts per trillion PFAS in a well that Tucson relied on for its water. In January 2017, the contamination rate was 79 parts per trillion. Later that year, infection levels rose to 133 parts per trillion, and 97 parts per trillion by March of the following year. The recommended level of PFAS is between 4 parts per trillion and 10 parts per trillion.
That well was taken offline and has been unused since. Thirty other wells were also taken out of use due to the contamination. The city says it has also invested in specialized laboratory equipment to analyze more than 1,800 samples annually for PFAS.
Tucson’s water utility, Tucson Water, stopped delivering water treated by the Tucson Airport Remediation Project (TARP) to residents in 2021 when elevated PFAS levels caused the plant to temporarily shut down because the filtration system that contained the contaminants could not cope with the increase.
While Tucson maintains that the water it supplies to the public is safe to drink, it also notes that pollution has eroded confidence in the city’s water supply. The water treated at the TARP facility is not used for drinking water, but goes to the Santa Cruz River to maintain water levels and help restore riparian habitats.
Tucson claims it spent a total of $71.1 million in cleanup costs and blames the Air Force for decades of using PFAS-based aqueous firefighting foams to extinguish fuel-based fires, releasing pollutants into the environment. Other damages Tucson says it has suffered include the loss of water production capacity and reduced consumer confidence in the city’s water.
The Air Force “was aware of the contamination of its groundwater with PFAS and knowingly ignored the known risk that the contamination had already migrated off-site to plaintiff’s wells, or that such a risk was imminent,” the city alleges in her complaint.
The city claims the Air Force is creating a public nuisance by failing to reduce PFAS contamination from soil and groundwater in the city’s wells. Tucson attorneys also claim the Air Force breached its duty to warn the city that hazardous chemicals were likely to be released. The attorneys also argue that the migrating contamination onto the Tucson property constitutes trespass.
EPA ordered the Air Force to clean up contaminated groundwater
In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the Arizona Air Force and National Guard to take action as PFAS continued to contaminate Tucson’s water supply. The cleanup was ordered at properties near Tucson International Airport on the National Guard base, as well as a U.S. Air Force property. The EPA gave the Air Force 90 days to design a long-term water treatment method.
The Air Force sent a letter in July asking the EPA to rescind the order, noting that the order “cannot result in the elimination of PFAS contamination in the aquifer” any faster than the federal cleanup process already taking place, and nor faster than Tucson’s project to build a PFAS pretreatment facility.
The Air Force maintained it was “fully committed” to its ongoing PFAS response, including the restoration of Tucson’s aquifers. The Air Force pointed to a $25 million federal grant from the state to build a new PFAS pretreatment facility for the TARP. The letter also notes the funds it paid to TARP, including millions of dollars for the first plant in 1991 and $17 million in 2016 for the new Advanced Oxidation Process facility.
In October, the EPA determined that the Air Force complied with the May order after the military branch established a plan to take action, including collecting data to determine the extent of the contamination, conducting pilot studies for possible cleanups and working with Tucson Water to recover past and future costs for PFAS treatment at TARP.
Reach the reporter sarah.lapidus@gannett.com. The Republic’s reporting on southern Arizona is funded in part by a grant from Report for America. Support news reporting in Arizona with a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tucson sues FBI over PFAS contamination at Air Force base
