Testing and Research

What’s In Your Water?

 

Enter your zip code to find your water report.  If you receive a water bill, you have likely been provided a hard copy of the list of contaminants in your water.  However, PFAS contaminants may not yet be listed. Most US states have just started testing for PFAS. Contact your state Environmental Division for more information on PFAS testing in your state.

Once you’ve entered your zip code and clicked on your community, you’ll be shown a list of the contaminants in your community’s Water Report that exceed the guidelines. Getting a passing grade from the federal government does not mean the water meets the latest health guidelines. After all, legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in almost 20 years, while the scientific community has gathered a tremendous amount of research linking many of these chemicals to cancer and a host of health issues.

You may notice that your water report omits data on the deadly class of carcinogens found in drinking water called PFAS. The EPA fails to classify these as hazardous substances. They’ve not been regulated or tested. This is changing in some states. You need to check your state.  

PFAS is used in heavy doses on military bases across the country. The substances are allowed to seep into groundwater, contaminating municipal drinking wells. If you obtain drinking water through a well, you ought to have it tested for contaminants, including PFAS chemicals.

How much will it cost to test my drinking water for PFAS?

 

If you have a well, you should get your water tested for PFAS. Most water tests for wells do not include PFAS, nor do states generally test private wells.

Testing costs vary from laboratory to laboratory and may typically range from approximately $300 to $600 per sample.  To have your water tested for PFAS, contact your state for a list of laboratories that are certified to test for PFAS using EPA Method 537.

To search online for EPA Certified Labs for drinking water testing, go to EPA’s website.

There are some testing services that are cheaper. We often use Cylcopure for PFAS water testing. It cost $79 total and tests for 55 forms of PFAS.

Testing Blood and Animals for PFAS?

 

If you are concerned and choose to have your blood tested, test results will tell you how much of each PFAS is in your blood but it is unclear what the results mean in terms of possible health effects. 

Blood tests for PFAS are most useful when they are part of a scientific investigation or a health study. A scientific investigation can show the range of blood PFAS levels in community members and may provide information on how the levels vary among different populations. The data from these studies can also help community members who were not tested to estimate their likely blood PFAS level. Select communities are having their blood tested for PFAS.

Some states and regions are also testing edible fish and wildlife for PFAS. In some cases, these states are issuing “do not eat” advisories. Michigan has posted website guidelines on how many fish you can eat per month from various lakes, based on PFOA and PFAS contamination. Most states are not testing fish or wildlife so caution is urged for human consumption.

How do I research contamination at a military base or site near me?

 

The EWG map of confirmed or suspected military sites with PFAS contamination will help you get started.  You can see where the sites are in your state and when you hold your cursor over one of the sites, you’ll see a snapshot of the suspected contamination.  To do more research, you need to go to the appropriate military branch’s database (see Reports and Datebases).  For example, if you want to look up a  specific Air National Guard (ANG) or Air Force Base (AFB) for contamination, you need to follow these steps: 

  1. Click on the Air Force site

  2. Select ANG or AFB at the top

  3. Click on the Base or National Guard site you want to search for

  4. Under full document search, enter PFAS

  5. Click search

  6. Click on a report  about PFAS that you would like to read. 

  7. Once the report has downloaded, search for: “analytical results”

  8. Look for the highest reading of PFOS/PFOA in these results. (The military only provides analytical results for two types of PFAS: PFOS  and PFOA) 

  9. Now search for "Surface Water" and go to results to see how much PFOS and PFOA is found in the groundwater. 

  10. Search for ”Groundwater Flow” to see if the PFAS is traveling beyond the site into rivers or streams or wells.

  11. Search for “Surface Water Drainage.”

  12. Search for “Sewer.” 

  13. Search for “Treatment.”

  14. Search for “Incineration” and “Transport.”

  15. Each of these searches will reveal information about where PFAS is traveling.

  16. Concerned citizens must discover where the sludge is applied to farm fields. The crops grown from those fields may be unsuitable for human or animal consumption.

  17. Is your PFAS being shipped to an incineration facility in the state or out of state?  Who is transporting that PFAS?

Research can also be conducted of Naval Sites

Researching Army sites is much more difficult; some information can be found here.