EPA: No chemicals in water under Lejeune housing

Raleigh | Federal environmental officials said Thursday a new round of testing found no chemical contamination under a school and houses used by military families at Camp Lejeune.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Marine Corps said in a joint statement that a network of monitoring wells didn't find any chemical contamination from a nearby Superfund site.

Base officials closed several water supply wells in 1987 that were contaminated with solvents from ABC One Hour Cleaners across the street from the Tarawa Terrace I base housing complex. Government figures estimate that up to 1 million people were exposed to the chemicals.

In July, base officials notified residents of nearly 900 homes that testing was under way to determine whether a plume of chemicals had seeped through the ground to further contaminate water supplies and send vapors into buildings.

Data from the monitoring wells show "that the plume of contamination from the ABC site does not extend beneath Tarawa Terrace Elementary School or housing area and is therefore not capable of generating a soil vapor intrusion concern," the statement said.

Sampling occurred in July and August. Water samples were taken July 16-24 from 10 locations and one location showed "extremely low concentrations" of the solvent tetrachloroethylene, the statement said.

"The other contaminants of concern were not detected in any of the samples collected," the statement said.

Another round of sampling on Aug. 1 included air at the elementary school and two unoccupied homes.

In September, the U.S. Senate approved a measure that could require the Navy to notify former residents of housing on the North Carolina base that they were exposed to contaminated water between 1958 and 1987.