Firefighting substance used by military may have tainted water in Fountain

staff photo
Megan Arellano

Volk Soto has struggled to gain weight in the first six weeks of his life.

He also happens to lives Fountain, where authorities suspect water contamination from “a firefighting substance used on military bases nationwide,” according to a New York Times story. 

Aqueous Film Forming Foam has contaminated at least 2,000 sites across the country, Department of Defense officials say. Among contaminated sites, high levels of perfluorinated chemicals were found, which the EPA links to low birth weights and other health issues. 

Fountain’s aquifer showed levels of the chemicals at up to 20 times levels viewed as safe. But it’s not just a Colorado problem, the NYT reports:

“It’s quite possible it will touch every state,” said Jennifer Field, a professor at Oregon State University and an expert on the chemistry of Aqueous Film Forming Foam. “Every place has a military base, a commercial airport, an oil refinery, a fuel tank farm.”

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