Congress aims to ban toxic firefighting foam on all military bases

A House Armed Services Subcommittee is taking steps to prohibit the use of toxic firefighting foam during training exercises on military bases across the country, including Peterson Air Force Base.

You may remember, it was chemicals from this foam used at Peterson for training that’s believed to be responsible for contaminating the aquifer between Security-Widefield and Fountain for decades.

“It is very scary,” said Karen Schatz, a mother who’s lived in Fountain for the past 15 years. “That’s why we got a water filter.”

The Schatzes are just one family out of thousands of neighbors worried about their health, following years of drinking untreated tap water.

“[I hope] they will test the waters and make it better so nobody that gets sick,” Schatz said.

But what Schatz doesn’t realize is Congress is working to do just that.

It’s a part of the National Defense Authorization Act. If passed, here’s what it would do:

It would require the military to find a fluorine-free firefighting agent by 2025. It would ban any use of fluorinated foams on military installations by 2029. It would allocate more than $120 million in funding to restore the environment in affected areas, much of which would go toward water testing.

It’s a big to-do list, yet our area won’t necessarily see a huge impact.

General Manager of Security Water & Sanitation District Roy Heald said it won’t be drastic, given those areas are no longer drinking any water from the contaminated aquifer.

“Right now we know that our source water through pueblo reservoir is 100% free of these chemicals,” said Heald.

But neighbors in Security-Widefield and Fountain could eventually see some benefit over time, with the use of that extra funding.

“At some point, we will need to resume testing and probably broaden that sampling to include other chemicals that are involved in the firefighting foam,” Heald said.

The bill is being taken up Wednesday in a subcommittee of House Armed Services.