thedrifter
11-15-07, 07:17 AM
Committee to Probe Water Contamination at Camp Lejeune
Posted: Today at 6:12 a.m.
Updated: Today at 6:59 a.m.
Camp Lejeune — During a 30-year span, officials said as many as 1 million people at Camp Lejeune used water tainted with solvents. A 14-member committee looking into the possible health effects will visit the base Thursday.
Base officials closed several water supply wells in 1987 that were contaminated with solvents from ABC One Hour Cleaners across the street from the Tarawa Terrace I base housing complex. Officials said it flowed through Camp Lejeune from 1957 to 1987.
Many people believe exposure to the water led to miscarriages, birth defects and cancer.
In July, base officials notified residents of nearly 900 homes that testing was under way to determine whether a plume of chemicals had seeped through the ground to further contaminate water supplies and send vapors into buildings.
Another round of sampling on August 1 included air at the elementary school and two unoccupied homes. Federal environmental officials said they found no chemical contamination under a school and houses used by military families at Camp Lejeune.
For their part, the Marines insist they followed environmental and health regulations in place at the time.
Nearly 900 people have already filed suit against the U.S. Pentagon, but that number could increase if researchers find a direct connection between the water and the illnesses.
Researchers said the study will be a challenge, considering it comes more than 20 years after the fact. In September, the U.S. Senate approved a measure that requires the military to personally inform anyone who could have been exposed.
Reporter: Julia Lewis
Photographer: Pete James
Web Editor: Kamal Wallace
Ellie
Posted: Today at 6:12 a.m.
Updated: Today at 6:59 a.m.
Camp Lejeune — During a 30-year span, officials said as many as 1 million people at Camp Lejeune used water tainted with solvents. A 14-member committee looking into the possible health effects will visit the base Thursday.
Base officials closed several water supply wells in 1987 that were contaminated with solvents from ABC One Hour Cleaners across the street from the Tarawa Terrace I base housing complex. Officials said it flowed through Camp Lejeune from 1957 to 1987.
Many people believe exposure to the water led to miscarriages, birth defects and cancer.
In July, base officials notified residents of nearly 900 homes that testing was under way to determine whether a plume of chemicals had seeped through the ground to further contaminate water supplies and send vapors into buildings.
Another round of sampling on August 1 included air at the elementary school and two unoccupied homes. Federal environmental officials said they found no chemical contamination under a school and houses used by military families at Camp Lejeune.
For their part, the Marines insist they followed environmental and health regulations in place at the time.
Nearly 900 people have already filed suit against the U.S. Pentagon, but that number could increase if researchers find a direct connection between the water and the illnesses.
Researchers said the study will be a challenge, considering it comes more than 20 years after the fact. In September, the U.S. Senate approved a measure that requires the military to personally inform anyone who could have been exposed.
Reporter: Julia Lewis
Photographer: Pete James
Web Editor: Kamal Wallace
Ellie