From the 1950s until the 1980s, Camp Lejeune’s water supply was tainted with two distinct, dangerous chemicals: perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). In addition, two distinct Camp Lejeune water treatment plants that serve the base—the Hadnot Point treatment plant and the Tarawa Terrace water plant—found extraordinarily high concentrations of each of these hazardous substances.
The Hadnot Point water treatment facility in North Carolina is where the TCE contamination at Camp Lejeune took place. TCE is a liquid chemical with no smell or color employed in numerous industrial processes. For many years, the U.S. military routinely utilized TCE as a degreaser and solvent to clean massive metal weapons and equipment. The production of refrigerants also uses TCE.
According to federal law, the maximum permissible level of TCE in drinking water is five parts per billion (ppb). TCE levels as high as 1,400 ppb were discovered in the Hadnot Point plant’s water delivery lines for Camp Lejeune. Between 1953 and 1985, the Hadnot Point factory was contaminated with TCE.
At Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, PCE pollution was discovered in the Tarawa Terrance water treatment facility. The commercial dry cleaning business generally uses PCE, a transparent liquid with a moderate odor, as a fabric solvent. ABC One-Hour Cleaners, a local dry cleaner, was identified as the Tarawa factory’s source of pollution. The EPA Disease Registry has defined the maximum permissible threshold for PCE health problems in drinking water at five ppb. There was 215 ppb of PCE in the water sent from the Tarawa treatment facility to Camp Lejeune, which is 43 times the safe limit.