My last post, Breaking News! Starkweather Creek is as stagnant and PFAS-poisoned as ever!, neglected to mention the most alarming no longer breaking news–the highest PFAS levels in shallow groundwater found to date at the base.
According to this Air National Guard report, a Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT Bay West report, 2021) investigation found a whopping 72,000 ppt PFOS and 2,400 ppt PFOA in very shallow groundwater at PRL 10 (“potential release location”)–west of Building 1209 in an area “used for testing AFFF nozzle systems on Fire Department vehicles.” (Hmmm, given these results, I think they can stop calling this a “potential” release area now, and just go ahead and call it “actual”). The WisDOT tests were done in May 2021.
This total, 74,400 ppt for PFOS + PFOA, is 3,720 times the DHS/DNR’s proposed groundwater standard of 20 ppt for these two compounds. This makes the levels we breathlessly reported in 2018, 39,841 ppt PFOS + PFOA, seem piddly.
These results also raise several questions. Why wasn’t this nozzle testing area, not far from the area where the “lower” levels were found (in November 2017), tested at that time? Why did the Wisconsin Department of Transportation do this testing? Is WisDOT a responsible party? Why weren’t these results reported before? Why were they buried in this report, posted as the “UNIFORM FEDERAL POLICY– QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN ADDENDUM” on DNR’s BRRTS? Who would think to look for PFAS testing results there?
Further, given the levels of PFOS and PFOA, the total PFAS levels are likely shockingly high, probably over 100,000 ppt. Where is the full report from this testing?
Here’s the revised Starkweather PFAS Morass Map, including the hotspot (with no total PFAS levels because we don’t have the full report):
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