The Camp Lejeune water contamination problem occurred at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, from 1953 to 1987. During that time, United States Marine Corps (USMC) personnel and families at the base bathed in and ingested tap water contaminated with harmful chemicals at all concentrations from 240 to 3400 times current safe levels. An undetermined number of former residents later developed cancer or other ailments, which could be due to the contaminated drinking water. Victims claim that USMC leaders concealed knowledge of the problem and did not act properly to resolve it or notify former residents.
In 2009 the U.S. federal government initiated investigations into the allegations of contaminated water and failures by U.S. Marine officials to act on the issue. In August 2012, President Obama signed the Janey Ensminger Act into law to begin providing medical care for people who may have been affected by the contamination. In February 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune significantly increased the risk of possibly contracting multiple diseases, though they did not say that the water actually caused any disease. The PACT Act of 2022, Sec. 804, is the Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2022. It provides damages for past injuries from Camp Lejeune toxic exposure. It is the first such law that provides compensation to the civilian family members of veterans stationed at the base as well as those who came onto the base for work.
Contamination
Early reports
From August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987 (sometimes from January 1, 1950 through December 31, 1985), Marines and personnel of any branch of the armed forces and their families stationed at Camp Lejeune's main base, barracks, family, temporary housing, Tarawa Terrace and Hadnot Point may have consumed or bathed in water contaminated with hazardous toxins at concentrations from 240 to 3400 times levels permitted by safety standards. As a result, at least 850 former residents filed claims for nearly $4 billion from the military. The contamination appears to have affected the water from two of the eight water wells on the base. The main chemicals involved were volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent, and trichloroethylene (TCE), a degreaser; however, more than 70 chemicals have been identified as contaminants at Lejeune. The base's wells were shut off in the mid-1980s, after which the water met federal standards, then they were placed back online in violation of the law. The National Research Council of the National Academies released a report based upon a literature review of PCE and TCE in July 2009. The report failed to assess other contaminants, such as benzene and vinyl chloride, and concluded that the water at the base was tainted between 1950 and 1985, but that the contamination could not be linked to any health problems. However, on October 22, 2010, a letter from the Director of the government agency tasked to study health effects at Superfund sites, such as Camp Lejeune, illustrated the limitations of the 2009 literature review and advised that there "was undoubtedly a hazard associated with drinking the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune".
In 1980, the base began testing the water for trihalomethanes in response to new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That same year, a laboratory from the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency began finding halogenated hydrocarbons in the water. In March 1981, one of the lab's reports, which was delivered to U.S. Marine officials, stated, "Water is highly contaminated with other chlorinated hydrocarbons (solvents)!"