Fairchild Air Force Base says groundwater that supplies nearby homes may have been contaminated by a fire-extinguishing foam that the Air Force stopped using last year after a recommendation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Air Force officials said Monday that the foam had been used at a former firefighter training site on the eastern edge of the base since 1970. It contained fluorinated compounds known by the acronyms PFOS and PFOA, which have been used to make clothing, carpet, upholstery, cookware and paper food packaging.
Testing in February found contamination in five wells near the training site, officials said. Those wells are on base and don’t supply drinking water.