EPA hosts forum to discuss water contamination in Fountain

A public forum was held Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency to hear from residents affected by contaminated water in Fountain and Security-Widefield.

It’s believed chemicals from firefighting foam used on Peterson Air Force Base contaminated the aquifer between Security-Widefield and Fountain. Now, people in the area are being found with elevated levels of toxic chemicals in their blood.

Thursday’s meeting was the fourth in recent months to learn about the impact Perfluorinated chemicals are having in our community. Research shows exposure to these compounds has been linked to cancer, infertility, and brain damage in both children and adults.

“I’m going to weather through as long as I can,” said Kenneth Bond, who’s lived in Fountain for 26 years.

Bond is only one out of the tens of thousands of families affected who are now left wondering when the EPA will start to regulate the amount of Perfluorinated chemicals in drinking water, implementing what’s called a “Maximum Contaminant Level” or MCL.

And as EPA’s Regional Administrator Doug Benevento explains, it’s not easy to do.

“It’s a regulatory process… that requires collecting data, where it is found … and you have to determine that,” Benevento said.

Water coalition groups argue that method is not effective and takes too long. But Benevento reiterated the agency has to follow procedure.

“People can take us to court and say you didn’t fully take our comments in consideration and the courts will send us back to do it over again,” said Benevento.

Right now, the agency explains they’re in part two of a three-part process to implement a maximum contaminant level.

A Harvard study dating back to 2016 found contaminated levels of PFC’s around 664 military fire training sites across the country, affecting 6 million people.