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| Hope Grosse and brother Chris Martindell (Michael Bryant photo) |
When the planes
burned, the kids would come out.
Hope Grosse and her siblings would run down their Warminster street and
rubberneck amid shrieking sirens. They would watch Navy firefighters shoot a
dense white foam from hoses, smothering the flames that leapt up from the
fenced-off lot.
When the blackened
plane was cool, the children would climb the fence and jump into the burned-out
cockpit, pretending to be pilots, Grosse recounted.
The plane, and the
field where the Navy conducted drills, was also a playground for the Kirk Road
kids back in the 1970s and ’80s. They did not know then that the firefighting foam could be toxic, or that it would seep into their drinking water.
Now Grosse wonders,
like at least hundreds of others in Bucks and Montgomery Counties: Have we been
poisoned?
For decades, Navy
personnel used the firefighting foam at hundreds of bases. Now they know that
it contained chemicals linked to cancers, and that those chemicals flowed
through the groundwater, into wells, and out of the faucets
personnel used the firefighting foam at hundreds of bases. Now they know that
it contained chemicals linked to cancers, and that those chemicals flowed
through the groundwater, into wells, and out of the faucets
of thousands of
residents in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
residents in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Two former
bases just north of Philadelphia have become the first Navy sites linked to
drinking water tainted by these chemicals. As the Department of Defense
investigates others across the country, what happens here could help shape the
response nationwide.
bases just north of Philadelphia have become the first Navy sites linked to
drinking water tainted by these chemicals. As the Department of Defense
investigates others across the country, what happens here could help shape the
response nationwide.
Since 2014, nearly half of public drinking wells and scores of
private wells in Horsham, Warminster, and Warrington have been shut down
because of contamination. Some homeowners may have to use bottled water for up
to a year; others have switched to bottled by choice.
private wells in Horsham, Warminster, and Warrington have been shut down
because of contamination. Some homeowners may have to use bottled water for up
to a year; others have switched to bottled by choice.
Public awareness and alarm spiked last month when federal
regulators issued new and stricter water quality standards that called into
question drinking water that had previously been deemed safe.
regulators issued new and stricter water quality standards that called into
question drinking water that had previously been deemed safe.
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