The Navy is requesting permission to sample drinking water obtained from wells near Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island to test for certain per- and polyfluoralkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
Property owners with drinking water wells located in the sampling areas may request sampling by leaving a message at 1-844-WHI-PFAS (1-844-944-7327), or by sending an email to naswi.pfas@jacobs.com. Please include your name, property address, and phone number.
If your drinking water is provided by a public water system, the Navy does not need to sample your drinking water.
NASWI PFAS Enduring Solutions TCRA Action Memorandum
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of thousands of different chemicals which have been widely used in industrial and consumer products since the 1950s. PFAS are man-made and have been used in many household and industrial products because of their stain- and water-repellent properties. PFAS are now present virtually everywhere in the world. The Navy and Department of Defense (DoD) have developed policies to address past releases of PFAS at installations nationwide.
The DoD, including the Navy, is moving toward complete removal of AFFF at its installations and transitioning to PFAS-free alternatives. Until that transition is complete, the Navy will continue to use formulations that contain PFAS for emergency response but will continue to take steps to prevent or minimize additional release of firefighting foam to the environment.
The most common activity associated with a historical release of PFAS to the environment at NAS Whidbey Island (Figure 1) is the use of firefighting foam (specifically, aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF) for testing, training, firefighting, and other life-saving emergency responses, or associated disposal practices. Because of this historical use, PFAS are present in the groundwater at NAS Whidbey Island and have been detected in nearby drinking water wells that are located in the direction that the groundwater flows away from NAS Whidbey Island.
The Navy initiated sampling in 2016 near NAS Whidbey Island to ensure the communities near our installations were not exposed to drinking water with perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and/or perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) above 70 parts per trillion (ppt), the DoD’s action level at the time, because of a known or potential Navy release of PFAS-containing materials.
Figure 1: Location Map of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) establishing nationwide drinking water standards for certain PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The regulation applies to public drinking water systems. Operators of public drinking water systems regulated by the NPDWR have five years to meet these standards. In September 2024, DoD published “Prioritization of Department of Defense Cleanup Actions to Implement the Federal Drinking Water Standards for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program,” which describes DoD’s plans to incorporate the EPA’s drinking water regulation into DoD’s ongoing PFAS cleanups and prioritize interim actions to address private drinking water wells with the highest levels of PFAS from DoD activities.
Table 1 presents the DoD PFAS interim action levels for private drinking water wells. The DoD’s September 2024 policy memorandum can be found here. To learn more about the DoD's September 2024 memorandum, the November 19, 2024, DoD PFAS Outreach Event can be found here.
The Navy continues to follow the policy it issued in June 2016 to conduct investigations at installations where there has been a known or suspected release of PFAS to the environment. The policy can be found here.
Due to the September 2024 policy, the Navy re-evaluated on-base groundwater results and off-base drinking water well results to determine whether certain PFAS are at or above the DoD PFAS interim action levels in private drinking water wells (Table 1). Based on this information, the Navy has determined that additional sampling is needed near Area 6 Landfill, Ault Field, and OLF Coupeville. The Navy also identified drinking water wells sampled between 2016 and 2020 that should be resampled because the laboratory method at the time could not detect PFAS at the current lower levels. Because of the laboratory method limitations, PFAS previously reported as not detected may now be detectable at low levels in these drinking water wells.
To-date, the Navy has sampled over 360 private drinking water wells near NAS Whidbey Island Area 6 Landfill, Ault Field, and OLF Coupeville. Of these, certain PFAS have been detected at or above the DoD PFAS interim action levels for PFAS in private drinking water wells in over thirty drinking water wells.
The Navy also conducts base-wide evaluations to identify potential PFAS releases at our installations in accordance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act requirements. At NAS Whidbey Island, the Navy is conducting investigations at the Area 6 Landfill, Ault Field, OLF Coupeville, and Seaplane Base. The Navy continues to work directly with property owners, community leaders and other federal, state and local agencies on this important national issue and will keep the community informed while respecting the privacy of individual residents.
Click the link below for information on each specific area, such as PFAS drinking water well sampling and on-base PFAS investigations.
If you have any questions, please contact one of the Public Affairs Officers listed below.