US Army Allowed Soldiers to Unwittingly Drink Contaminated Water for Six Years

Unfortunately I need to head off to bed, but I want to start this thread while I'm thinking about it. I work with a gentleman who recently ended his career with the Army. He has inoperable brain cancer and as unfortunate as it may be, the U.S. Army is at fault. I do not remember which base he was stationed at, but in the end it really is inconsequential.

According to him the tap water had been contaminated with cleaning products, and the officer in charge of the water treatment facility did nothing to prevent it, stop the problem, or alert the higher ups of the issue. Apparently he found an anomaly in the water supply, but thought it was an unusual and isolate spike and continued to ignore the problem for six years. So everyone who drank the tap water on a regular basis was exposed to a whole host of chemicals and are now being treated for many different types and forms of cancer. My co-worker is currently involved in class action law suit in order to at least have enough money to live out the rest of his life comfortably.... because after all, this will eventually kill him.

I will try to get more information, but it could be difficult since his tumor often makes it difficult for him to concentrate, and obviously this is a sensitive issue.

Anyhow, I was absolutely shocked that someone would allow this to happen and to continue at a military installation. Good, hard working individuals who joined the military to serve the American people are now dying because someone was too negligent to report large amounts of chemicals in the water supply. It absolutely makes me ill thinking about it.

The really shocking part is that there has been absolutely no media coverage of this. I tried searching for his name and the incident in question online but came up with nothing. I think I am going to try to urge him to at least seek local media attention..... I would imagine this is something that most Americans would like to know about. I have nothing else to add at this moment, but I will try to get some more information.

I would like to know exactly where and when this allegedly took place. I have friends and family who have served, and I want to know that they are safe.

Hey, interesting, thanks for bringing this to our attention. I hope your friend will be ok? This seems like a big thing, and I agree it's shocking that there is nothing about this in media, I'll come back to see your updates.

Good night.

Alright, the updates will have to wait unfortunately, my co-worker was off today, and I'm off tomorrow, so I will have more information for both of you on Tuesday evening. It is rather disconcerting. I didn't think that I would get too many responses to this thread, but I wanted to put it out there, because I feel it is important for people to know when something of this severity happens. I will try to stop by work and talk to him tomorrow, but considering I have plans with my mother it might make it difficult. If anyone has any other questions, I will try my best to answer them.

By the way, as far as I know he has only been out of military service for approx. 6 months. This is the first job he has had since he left the service.

Apparently this type of thing is not isolated. While searching for anything involving my co-worker, I found many other cases of untreated or contaminated water that soldiers had to either drink, bathe in, etc. I have provided a few links to provide evidence showing that this isn't entirely uncommon.


“We exposed a base camp population (military and civilian) to a water source that was not treated,” said a July 15, 2005, memo written by William Granger, the official for Halliburton’s KBR subsidiary who was in charge of water quality in Iraq and Kuwait."

www.msnbc.msn.com...

"Halliburton Co. failed to protect the water supply it is paid to purify for U.S. soldiers throughout Iraq, in one instance missing contamination that could have caused “mass sickness or death,” an internal company report concluded."

www.msnbc.msn.com...

It figures that Halliburton had something to do with this.

This next link involves rocket fuel that was allowed to leak into a civilian water supply.

www.openthegovernment.org...

One of the more interesting stories that I found, that I unfortunately can't seem to find again was a race track who's water supply had been contaminated by the previous owners, which just happened to be the US Army. They used the land for fire fighting training. Part of the training involved a very large pit in which they would pour large amounts of flammable chemicals and then ignite said chemicals. Well they sold the land to the current owner without informing him. As it turns out the chemicals leaked into the ground water which was used for the restrooms and sprinkler systems resulting in many of the patrons becoming seriously ill.

So many of these I have been digging up seem to have been quietly swept under the rug. I simply started this thread to inform people of something I found quite horrific, but I'm starting to smell real conspiracy. Also, I didn't expect many people to respond to this thread just so long as they read it, but this is becoming more conversation worthy. Maybe someone can dig up some more information concerning the government's seemingly apathetic attitude towards the poisoning of U.S. military personnel and civilians.

None interested? Oh well worth a shot right, I'll be around if anyone decides to respond though.

The Marine Corps is doing a study to determine the effects of polluted water at Camp Lejeune from 1957 to 1987.

That includes me and I received a letter from HQMC just a few days ago informing me that I have been added to the registry.

Water at Camp Lejeune suspected in death, illness

www.ct.gov...

clnr.hqi.usmc.mil...

www8.nationalacademies.org...

So, during my four year enlistment, I broke my left fibula, suffered extensive burns, developed PTSD, was exposed to Agent Orange and polluted water at Camp Lejeune and countless other lesser "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

My battle with the VA for adequate compensation has taken more than twenty years and is still ongoing, yet the VA has provided me with treatment for my service-connected disabilities, some non-service-connected ailments and injuries and provided me with educational benefits that many would kill for (no pun intended).

It's a bummer to suffer from ailments because of your service, but on the other hand, it is something that everyone recognizes when he enlists.

There will be risks. Some are unavoidable. Some would have been avoidable if someone hadn't screwed up or had had the technologies of today way back when.

I am not bitter about any of these things. I served voluntarily and assumed the risks inherent in the job.

So, while there must be accountability if it can be proven that there was negligence or incompetence involved in these matters, in the end, these are the types of risks we agreed to take and most of us feel honored to have had the opportunity to do so.


[edit on 2008/5/12 by GradyPhilpott]

Let me start off by saying thank you for your military service. I respect all that are willing to step forward to help the country. I also understand that military service poses some inherent risks, and sure it is part and parcel to what being in the armed services is, however to allow this type of incident to happen is wholly unacceptable in my opinion. You were there doing an honorable thing for our country, the least they can do is make sure that there is clean, non-toxic water available for consumption. I am happy that you aren't bitter about the situation, because that really isn't going to help you live your life, but it's just aggravating to think that this was allowed to happen repeatedly. Good luck to you, and thank you for responding.

"Unwittingly", eh?

If you believe that I have a cute bridge over the East River that I'd like to show you, for sale today at a special bargain price.

Honestly.

Originally posted by sarcastic

"Unwittingly", eh?

The title implies that the soldiers drank the water, having no reason to suspect that it was tainted or polluted in any way, which is to say that the soldiers "unwittingly" drank the water.


[edit on 2008/5/12 by GradyPhilpott]

I'd look into Ft. Riley water supply before they built the waterplant in 1992 or so.

Maybe you should ask your friend about this military post and see if your friend has a reaction or memory.

Ok... I finally got some information from my co-worker and managed to find plenty of information about problems they were having with water contamination. Sorry this took so long. My friend was stationed at Lejeune for a time in 1980, and yes he was in the Marines. Unfortunately some of my information was incorrect before. He didn't just get out of the military, this is his first job since they did surgery to remove a portion of the tumor. Anyhow here's some of the info I found on wikipedia and elsewhere.


"From at least 1957 through 1987, Marines and their families at Lejeune drank and bathed in water contaminated with toxins at concentrations up to 40-times permitted by safety standards, and at least 850 former residents filed claims for nearly $4 billion from the military. The main chemicals involved were trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE); however, more than 70 chemicals have been identified as contaminants at Lejeune. [2] The base's wells were shut off in the mid-1980s, after which the water met federal standards.[2][3]

In 2007, Jerry Ensminger, a retired Marine master sergeant, found a document dated 1981 that described a radioactive dump site near a rifle range at the camp. According to the report, the waste was laced with strontium-90, an isotope known to cause cancer and leukemia.[2] According to Camp Lejeune's installation restoration program manager, base officials learned in 2004 about the 1981 document.[2] Ensminger served in the Marine Corps for 24 and a half years, and lived for part of that time at Camp Lejeune. In 1985 his 9-year-old daughter, Janey, died of cancer.[2]

An advocacy group called The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten was created to inform possible victims of the contamination at Lejeune. The group's website includes an introduction with some basic information about the contamination at Lejeune, including that many health problems various types of cancer, leukemia, miscarriages and birth defects, have been noted in people who drank the contaminated water. According to their site, numerous base housing areas were affected by the contamination, including Tarawa Terrace, Midway Park, Berkeley Manor, Paradise Point, Hadnot Point, Hospital Point, and Watkins Village"

en.wikipedia.org...

www.atsdr.cdc.gov...

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


So you two are in the same boat two a certain extent, thanks for your input. If you have any more comments I'd like to hear them. Thank you again for serving our country.

It's not just the servicemen. Here in Cheyenne, Wyoming, we have an attached Air Force base, Army operations, Air National Guard, and Army National Guard. Due to cold war era missle maintenance, our water is contaminated.

www.tceblog.com...

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

But right now, the city is paying the $20,000 a year it takes to remove the TCE from the water before it arrives at residents’ taps.

It also paid $600,000 for the aeration basin that removes the chemical when it was first found in 1998, Jane Francis, geological supervisor at the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, said.

“Our first priority is safe drinking water,” Bud Spillman, manager of the water treatment division of the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, said in a news release. “We can remove the TCE at the treatment plant and do not allow any water contaminated with TCE to be piped to town.”

The part that has residents concerned is the fact that it was only found in 1998... how long had we been drinking the stuff?!?

reply to post by Earthscum


Absolutely unbelievable. If I have learned anything from all of this it's that this seems to be a pretty widespread problem. The military needs to clean up their act when it comes to public safety in regards to drinking water for servicemen as well as civilians. Thanks for your post.... I wish you luck.

This sounds extremely familiar. I seem to have a memory of seeing a "60 minutes" story about contaminated water being drunk by the soldiers in Iraq, but I'd have to do some digging to confirm or refute that. If anyone here is looking for more info, I'd start with that, assuming you trust my (sometimes) sketchy memory.

Yes this did also happen in Iraq, and Haliburton was in charge of the water supply in that case... nasty stuff. Thanks for posting.