How decades of AFFF use contaminated bases, communities, and veterans

PFAS in the military is one of the most serious environmental and public health stories in the country. The source is a firefighting foam called AFFF, aqueous film-forming foam, used on military bases, airfields, and naval installations since the 1960s. Decades of training exercises and emergency responses left PFAS chemicals in the soil and groundwater at hundreds of installations across the United States.

PFAS in the military did not stay on base. Contamination migrated into surrounding communities, private wells, and municipal drinking water systems. People who never served, and never lived on a military installation, now drink water affected by AFFF use that ended years or decades ago.

Veterans face a separate set of concerns. Many were exposed to AFFF directly during service, sometimes repeatedly over years. Research linking PFAS exposure to serious health conditions continues to grow, and many veterans are only now learning that their health problems connect to chemicals they encountered in uniform.

This page covers what PFAS in the military means for affected communities, where contamination exists, what the federal government is doing about it, and what veterans and nearby residents need to know.

Aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) is a firefighting agent developed in the 1960s specifically to suppress jet fuel and hydrocarbon fires. It works by rapidly spreading a thin film across the fuel surface, cutting off oxygen and stopping the fire.

AFFF was effective. The U.S. Navy and Air Force adopted it widely, and it became standard equipment at military airfields, aircraft carriers, and fuel depots. It was also required at civilian airports under FAA regulations. The problem was its chemistry: AFFF was built on PFOS and related PFAS compounds. Every training exercise, every real fire, and every equipment test deposited PFAS into the ground and groundwater at and around military installations.

Training exercises were particularly damaging because PFAS in the military. Bases ran repeated foam discharge drills, sometimes releasing thousands of gallons of AFFF at a time directly onto airfield surfaces or into containment areas that were not designed to prevent groundwater migration. Over decades, PFAS migrated from these sites into surrounding aquifers and drinking water supplies.

The contamination at military bases does not stay on the base. PFAS migrate through groundwater and surface water into surrounding communities. People who have never set foot on a military installation have elevated PFAS body burdens because they live downhill or downstream from one.

Some of the most heavily affected communities in the U.S. are located adjacent to or near military installations. The following are among the most documented cases of pfas in the military

Service members who lived or worked on contaminated bases, handled AFFF, or worked in occupational specialties with high foam exposure face elevated body burdens because of PFAS in the military. Firefighters — both military and civilian — are among the most heavily exposed groups studied.

Military firefighters trained and fought fires using AFFF as their primary suppression tool for decades. Aircraft crash and rescue crews deployed AFFF in live-fire training multiple times per year. Fuel system maintenance personnel worked in environments where AFFF had been used and where PFAS-contaminated water was present. Flight deck personnel on carriers were present during foam deployments.

Beyond firefighting roles, anyone who lived on a base with contaminated drinking water was exposed through their daily water supply over months or years of assignment.

The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — known as the PACT Act — was signed in August 2022. It is the most significant expansion of VA benefits for toxic exposure in decades.

The PACT Act is relevant to PFAS in several ways. It expands eligibility for VA health care to veterans who served at locations with documented toxic exposures, including PFAS-contaminated military bases. It establishes a framework for presumptive service connection for certain conditions linked to toxic exposures, reducing the documentation burden veterans must meet to receive disability compensation.

If you have potential PFAS exposure through military service, these are the conditions with the strongest documented links to PFAS that are worth discussing with your provider: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, liver disease, and immune system disorders. See our Health Effects page for the full evidence summary.

The Department of Defense acknowledged the PFAS contamination problem at military bases formally in the mid-2010s and has been conducting site investigations and remediation under the Installation Restoration Program. Progress has been slow relative to the scale of the problem.

At contaminated sites, the DoD typically installs groundwater treatment systems using granular activated carbon or ion exchange to remove PFAS from extracted groundwater. On-site soil remediation is more difficult and expensive, and the technology to permanently destroy PFAS in soil at scale is still developing. Destruction technologies including high-temperature incineration and supercritical water oxidation are in use at some sites but are not yet widely deployed.

The EPA’s 2024 CERCLA designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances gives the agency new authority to require cleanup at military sites and to compel cost-sharing from AFFF manufacturers — a development that has significant implications for how cleanup is funded and who bears liability.

Off-base communities affected by groundwater migration have not always received remediation support commensurate with their contamination levels. Private well owners near military bases have faced inconsistent access to testing, bottled water, and filter programs depending on which state they live in and how aggressively their state environmental agency has pressed the DoD.

The DoD’s cleanup timeline for all confirmed sites extends well into the 2030s and beyond. Many sites are in early investigation phases with no active treatment in place.

Lawsuits related to military PFAS contamination have proceeded on two tracks: claims against AFFF manufacturers and claims related to specific base contamination events.

3M agreed in June 2023 to pay up to $12.5 billion over 13 years to resolve claims by public water systems contaminated by PFAS from AFFF. DuPont and its spinoff companies agreed to a $1.185 billion settlement with water utilities in the same year. These settlements addressed claims from municipal water systems, not from individual veterans or community residents.

The PACT Act created a specific legal pathway for veterans, family members, and workers who were harmed by contamination at Camp Lejeune between 1953 and 1987. Claims can be filed directly with the Department of the Navy. If denied, claimants can pursue a federal lawsuit. The statute of limitations for Camp Lejeune claims runs two years from the date the PACT Act was signed — August 10, 2024. That deadline has now passed for new filings, though some claims filed before the deadline remain in process.

Residents of communities near military bases have filed lawsuits against AFFF manufacturers in federal multidistrict litigation. These cases are separate from the water utility settlements and remain active. If you believe you have been harmed by PFAS contamination from a military source, consult an attorney with environmental or toxic tort experience with PFAS in the military.

ForeverChemicals.info provides educational information for general consumers. Nothing on this site constitutes legal, medical, or veterans benefits advice. Data sourced from EPA, DoD, VA, EWG, and peer-reviewed research. Site data and cleanup status figures reflect publicly available information as of February 2026. PFAS contamination investigations are ongoing and site counts change. Last updated February 2026.