An Air Force plan to address PFAS contamination of drinking water that comes from two of its facilities on Tucsonโs south side has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The agency approved a preliminary plan outlined by the Air Force that would involve working with Tucson Water to cover costs of past and future PFAS treatment at the utilityโs south-side treatment plant, EPA said Tuesday in the news release.
Firefighting foam with toxic PFAS compounds was used in the past by many military installations, including the Air National Guard at its Morris Air National Guard Base near Tucson International Airport.
The plant, near Interstate 19 and Irvington Road, has been removing PFAS from groundwater since the late 2010s, and Tucson Water was already awarded a federal grant to build another plant to accelerate the cleanup.
The Air Force also agreed to conduct pilot studies for possible additional PFAS cleanup and โundertake actions where appropriate,โ EPA said. In addition, the Air Force committed to collect data to determine the extent of contamination, EPA said.
EPAโs announcement of the agreement comes nearly five months after the agency ordered the Air Force to come up with a cleanup plan for the PFAS contamination in 60 days. The EPA later extended the deadline for that action to 90 days, but the Air Force first resisted EPAโs order on technical and legal grounds.
On Monday, the Air Force sent EPA a letter โoutlining a plan to take actions related to drinking water safetyโ stemming from the PFAS contamination at Air Force facilities at the federally managed Tucson International Airport Superfund site, EPA said.
Those facilities are Morris Air National Guard Base north of Tucson International Airport and Air Force Plant 44 south of the airport.
โEPA will actively oversee actions by the Air Force to ensure communities are protected from exposure to PFAS and that will allow Tucson to use its groundwater resources for drinking water,โ EPA said in its news release.
