Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Lawsuit

Camp Lejeune, located south of Jacksonville, N.C., is a 156,000 acre military training facility in Onslow County. It’s also the military base for the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River. Built in 1942, Camp Lejeune trains and prepares service members for deployment and humanitarian missions abroad. It is a vital base to the Marines.

The Environmental Protection Act, passed in 1970, required public water systems to routinely test for water quality. Like other military bases at that time, environmental stewardship there failed to properly test the water quality.

In 1982, Grainger Laboratories in Raleigh, N.C., was hired to test water at Camp Lejeune. They found "synthetic organic cleaning solvents" tainting water from two of the base's largest living areas, where thousands of Marines and their family lived.

Although military chemists tested the water in 1980, they waited until July 1984 to test the wells directly. Finally,  Chemists discovered two water treatment plants supplying drinking water to Camp Lejeune were tainted with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Water from the Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point treatment plants were found to be contaminated.

The wells stayed open until November. By then, news of the toxic water was made public. In late 1984 and 1985 a total of 10 wells would be closed because of contamination.

For three decades–from the 1950s to the mid-1980s–the water supply used by hundreds of thousands of Marines and their families was mixed with chemicals from an off-base dry-cleaning company and industrial solvents used to clean military equipment.

Our water supply is made up of a network of pipes, wells, pumps, and treatment facilities that deliver drinking water. Water gets contaminated when toxic substances enter the soil or groundwater. Contaminants can enter the ground from poor waste disposal practices.

Raw, contaminated drinking water is caused by negligence. On and off base actions contributed to the toxic levels of VOCs and toxic chemicals in the water. Dumping waste water down storm drains and failing to replace leaking storage tanks are some of these actions.

The EPA called Lejeune a "major polluter" in the 1970s. As a result, they placed Camp Lejeune on the Superfund program’s National Priorities list in 1989. Cleanup efforts continue more than thirty years later.

Water testing at Camp Lejeune revealed the presence of several toxic substances. Among these substances were VOCs and heavy metals. Many of these chemicals are either known or suspected human carcinogens.

The two main pollutants in the drinking water from 1957 to 1987 were tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene (PCE), and trichloroethylene (TCE). 

A study by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) revealed that concentrations of these chemicals exceeded 240 to 3400 times the levels permitted by EPA safety standards.

VOCs are environmental contaminants. Often, they are solvents and fuels that evaporate easily. Exposure to VOCs can cause a variety of health issues. 

Known effects include:

• irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat
• headaches and loss of coordination
• nausea
• central nervous system damage
• organ damage

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found in the water delivered to family housing and other facilities on base. Some of these chemicals included the following:

• Trichloroethylene (TCE): a metal degreaser commonly used on military equipment
• Tetrachloroethylene (PCE): a dry cleaning agent
• Benzene, a chemical found in gasoline
• Vinyl chloride (VC), a colorless gas used to in the process of making plastic products
• trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (DCE), a colorless liquid used to produce solvents

Some volatile organic compounds can cause cancer. TCE, VC, and benzene are classified as human carcinogens. There are not enough studies on PCE to call it a cancer-causing agent.

ATSDR studies have found that past exposures from the 1950s through 1985 to TCE, PCE, VC, and other contaminants at the Camp Lejeune likely increased the risk of cancers (kidney, multiple myeloma, leukemias, and others), adverse birth outcomes, and other adverse health effects of people at Camp Lejeune.

Exposure to Camp Lejeune contaminated water may have affected up to one million people. Disastrous health effects have been seen at high rates in the surrounding area. A CDC study found that children at Camp Lejeune had higher rates of birth defects and childhood diseases, including Leukemia and Lymphoma.

Another CDC study discovered who lived at the base had elevated risks for additional types of cancers, as well as Parkinson's Disease and ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).