ATSDR - Releases final version of its public health assessment for Naval Station Norfolk (NSN), Norfolk, Va.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Search | Index | Home | Glossary | Contact Us

ATSDR MEDIA ANNOUNCEMENT
ATSDR releases final version
of its Naval Station Norfolk public health assessment

For Immediate Release: October 1, 2002

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recently released the final version of its public health assessment for Naval Station Norfolk (NSN), Norfolk, Va.

The most significant conclusions in the document are:

The only known private wells near the base drawing from the area's shallow aquifer do not provide drinking water and are not expected to be affected by contamination originating from NSN. The low levels of contaminants detected in a few shallow wells used for nonpotable purposes, including use in watering backyard vegetable gardens, would be unlikely to result in adverse health effects. Thus, shallow groundwater poses no public health hazard. There are no known off-site drinking water wells drawing water from the deep aquifer downgradient of site-related contamination, so deep groundwater poses no public health hazard.
Available indoor air samples collected in 1992 near the Camp Allen Landfill to assess the potential for exposures to VOCs migrating via groundwater did not contain levels of contaminants of potential health concern. For this reason, the potential for VOC migration from Camp Allen Landfill is considered no apparent public health hazard.

Also, ATSDR recommends that the Navy evaluate the need to collect additional indoor air samples if any future groundwater monitoring data indicate that substantial groundwater contamination is migrating beneath areas where people live, work or go to school,.

Finally, ATSDR concurs with a Chesapeake Bay Program recommendation for further study of contamination in Willoughby Bay.

The public health assessment can be reviewed in the following repositories:

Larchmont Public Library Kirn Memorial Branch
6525 Hampton Blvd. Norfolk Public Library
Norfolk 301 East City Hall Ave.
Norfolk

Mary Pretlow Public Library
9640 Granby St.
Norfolk

Community members seeking additional information about the health assessment should contact Jeffrey Kellam, environmental health scientist, or PerStephanie Thompson, community involvement specialist, toll-free at 1-888-422-8737. Regional Representative Tom Stukas also may be contacted in Philadelphia at 215-814-3142. Callers should mention the Naval Station Norfolk site when calling.

Back to ATSDR Home page

This page last updated on October 7, 2002
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
1-888-422-8737 or e-mail: atsdric@cdc.gov (public inquiries)
770-488-0700 or e-mail (news media)