Bucks, Montco Water Contamination Makes National Headlines

WARRINGTON, PA — The local water crisis is making national headlines. The Wall Street Journal visited Warrington recently, interviewing local residents and publishing a report this week about the water contamination issue facing communities surrounding the Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Horsham and the Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster.

The report is headlined "The Philadelphia Suburbs Where Many Don’t Drink the Water."

The publication spoke with local residents as well as Greg Preston, director of the Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure Program East, who said the Navy “is taking a coordinated, aggressive, and holistic approach to proactively address the myriad PFAS issues.”

The issue has been ongoing for years: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals used at the now-closed bases has been detected in local water sources. Local communities, including Horsham, Warrington, and Warminster, have been working to correct the PFAS contamination since 2016.

PFAS are man-made chemicals that have been used to make cookware, carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food, and other materials that are resistant to water, grease, or stains. They are also used in firefighting foams and in a number of industrial processes.

Exposure to PFAS could have numerous health impacts, the Centers for Disease Control says. They could interfere with the body’s natural hormones, increase cholesterol levels, affect the immune system, and increase the risk of some cancers.

In 2018, the state created a "PFAS Action Team," and local communities, including Warminster and Warrington, have received millions in grants to address the contamination.

An initial report from the PFAS Action Team was released in 2019.

Over the summer, the Warminster Municipal Authority received a $5 million grant to address the issue. Thirteen Warminster Municipal Authority wells have been found to be contaminated by PFAS.

Warrington received a $3 million grant to renovate four groundwater wells in the township contaminated by PFAS as a result of the use of firefighting foam.