Summary of the water contamination situation at Camp Lejeune

• 8 water treatment plants serving the base
• Hadnot Point (HP)
• Began operation in 1942
• Areas served:
• Mainside barracks
• Hospital Point family housing
• Family housing at Midway Park, Paradise Point, and Berkeley Manor until June 1972
• Tarawa Terrace (TT)
• Began operation in 1952
• Shut down in March 1987
• Areas served:
• Tarawa Terrace family housing
• Knox trailer park
• Holcomb Boulevard (HB)
• Began operation in June 1972
• Areas served:
• Family housing at Midway Park, Paradise Point, Berkeley Manor, and Watkins Village
• Tarawa Terrace family housing after March 1987
• Courthouse Bay
• Rifle Range
• Onslow Beach
• Montford Point/Camp Johnson
• New River


• VOCs detected in HP and TT wells during 1980-85 sampling program
• Samples collected by Camp Lejeune staff
• Chemicals detected included TCE, PCE, benzene, DCE
• Contamination of wells began many years before detection
• Other on-base treatment plants were not contaminated


• Contamination of HP and TT drinking water systems was intermittent
• Wells rotated in and out of service
• Each system had more wells than necessary to supply water on any given day


• Tarawa Terrace Treatment Plant
• PCE (perchloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene) was the main contaminant
• Maximum level detected in drinking water was 215 parts per billion (ppb) in February 1985
• Source of contamination was ABC One-Hour Cleaners, an off-base dry cleaning firm
• The most contaminated wells were shut down in February 1985
• Water modeling conducted by ATSDR is complete
• PCE concentration exceeded the current limit of 5 ppb in drinking water at the TT water treatment plant for 346 months during November 1957-February 1987


• Hadnot Point Treatment Plant
• TCE (trichloroethylene) was the main contaminant
• Maximum level detected in drinking water was 1,400 ppb in May 1982
• The current limit for TCE in drinking water is 5 ppb
• Other contaminants detected included DCE (trans-1,2-dichloroethylene) at a maximum of 407 ppb in January 1985, PCE and benzene
• Multiple sources of contamination
• Leaking underground storage tanks
• Waste disposal sites
• The most contaminated wells were shut down by February 1985
• Water modeling is ongoing
• Presently unknown when contamination of some HP wells began, but may have begun as early as the late 1940s or early 1950s
• When the water modeling is completed by mid-2009, the dates when the system was contaminated will be determined


• Holcomb Boulevard wells were not contaminated
• Contaminated water from HP supplied the HB system when the HB plant was shut down for almost two weeks during January 27-Febraury 7, 1985
• Contaminated water from HP may have been used sporadically to supplement the HB supply during dry summer months when the golf courses were watered