PFAS contamination has become one of the most serious toxic exposure issues facing service members, veterans, military families, and defense communities.

These chemicals are often called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment. For decades, PFAS were used in firefighting foam at military installations. That foam helped extinguish fuel fires, but it also left contamination in soil, groundwater, streams, wells, and nearby communities.

The scale is still coming into focus.

The Department of Defense has identified hundreds of active military installations, former sites, National Guard facilities, and related locations where PFAS releases may require cleanup, according to the Department of Defense.

PFAS chemicals can persist in soil, water, and the human body for years.

Federal Reviews Show Cleanup Is Moving Too Slowly

A 2025 Government Accountability Office report found that DoD had completed early assessments and site inspections at nearly all 718 installations identified as having a potential PFAS release. Yet as of June 2024, no locations had entered the long-term cleanup phase.

That gap matters.

Families cannot wait indefinitely for safe water, health answers, and permanent cleanup. GAO also reported that DoD’s future PFAS investigation and cleanup costs are expected to exceed $9.3 billion, a figure that has more than tripled since 2022.

Service members and military families have faced exposure risks on and near bases.

Communities Near Bases Are Already Seeing The Harm

The danger is not theoretical. Near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, a 2025 report covered by The Guardian found elevated PFAS blood levels among people who lived or worked near the contaminated zone. The contamination has been tied to military firefighting foam and has affected private wells, public water, farmland, and dairy operations.

This is the kind of exposure that turns a military pollution issue into a community-wide public health crisis.

The burden often falls on people who did not create the contamination. They include military families, veterans, farmers, children, and residents who trusted that their water was safe.

Federal Protections Must Not Be Weakened

The Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2025 that it would keep national drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, two of the most studied PFAS chemicals. EPA also retained the rule designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA, according to a 2025 EPA update.

Those protections are vital. They help regulators force cleanup, recover costs, and hold polluters accountable.

But they remain under pressure. The Associated Press reported that EPA moved to roll back some PFAS drinking water limits while keeping limits for PFOA and PFOS. The Environmental Working Group has warned that weakening PFAS safeguards would leave service members and defense communities more vulnerable.

Members of Congress raised similar concerns in an October 2025 letter to the Secretary of Defense, calling on DoD to reverse delayed cleanup timelines and move faster at contaminated sites.

EPA drinking water standards remain central to reducing PFAS exposure.

Military Families Deserve Cleanup And Accountability

PFAS contamination is not only an environmental problem. It is a trust problem.

People who served this country should not have to fight for clean water after returning home. Families who lived near military sites should not have to bear the health risks, financial burden, or years of uncertainty caused by toxic pollution.

Federal leaders must protect PFAS drinking water rules, defend Superfund cleanup authority, accelerate military-site cleanup, expand health monitoring, and make responsible parties pay.

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