The Navy is requesting property owner permission to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in private drinking water wells near Naval Auxiliary Landing Field (NALF) Fentress and conduct additional sampling of certain private drinking water wells.
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Property owners with a drinking water well in the sampling areas may call 1-800-931-6118 to schedule a sampling appointment.
If you have questions about the drinking water sampling, please email: NALFFentressWater@us.navy.mil or call and leave a detailed message at 1-800-931-6118.
A Navy representative will return your call.
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Introduction
PFAS are a family of thousands of different chemicals that have been used since the 1950s in many household and industrial products. PFAS are now present virtually everywhere in the world because of the large amounts that have been manufactured and used. Once these compounds are released, many of them tend to stay in the environment for a very long time. The Navy and Department of Defense (DoD) have developed policies to address past releases of PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), at installations nationwide.
The most common activity that could have resulted in the historical release of PFAS to the environment at NALF Fentress (Figure 1) is the use of firefighting foam (specifically, aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF) for testing, training, firefighting, and other life-saving emergency responses. Because of this historical use, PFAS are present in the groundwater at NALF Fentress and have been detected in nearby private drinking water wells that are located in the direction that the groundwater flows away from NALF Fentress.
Figure 1 – Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress
On April 26, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) establishing nationwide drinking water standards for certain PFAS under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The regulation applies to public drinking water systems. Operators of public drinking water systems regulated by the NPDWR have until April 2029 to meet these standards. In September 2024, the DoD published “Prioritization of Department of Defense Cleanup Actions to Implement the Federal Drinking Water Standards for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program,” which describes DoD’s plans to incorporate the EPA’s drinking water regulation into DoD’s ongoing PFAS responses and prioritize actions to address private drinking water wells with the highest levels of PFAS from DoD activities.
Table 1 presents the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells. The DoD’s September 2024 policy memorandum can be found here.
Table 1. DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells*
| PFAS |
Level |
| perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) |
12 parts per trillion (ppt) |
| perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) |
12 ppt |
| perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) |
30 ppt |
| perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) |
30 ppt |
| hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA or GenX) |
30 ppt |
| hazard index for mixture of at least two of PFHxS, PFNA, HFPO-DA, and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) |
3 (no units) |
*These levels are based on current EPA NPDWR levels. If EPA updates applicable requirements, DoD will review and update its policy as appropriate.
Private Drinking Water Well Sampling near NALF Fentress
Certain PFAS have been detected in groundwater at NALF Fentress. The Navy previously established a sampling area in February 2016 0.5-mile in the direction that groundwater flows away from on-base monitoring wells with PFOA and PFOS above the Navy’s action levels at that time, the EPA provisional health advisories for PFOA and PFOS, 400 ppt and 200 ppt, respectively. The sampling area was expanded after the release of the May 2016 EPA lifetime health advisories of 70 ppt for PFOA and/or PFOS, individually or combined. The expanded sampling area included all parcels within 0.5-mile of parcels with PFOA and/or PFOS above 70 ppt in private drinking water wells. Seven private drinking water wells had PFOA and/or PFOS above 70 ppt; the Navy continues to provide bottled water to these properties for drinking and cooking. The Navy continues to work with the City of Chesapeake to connect these properties to public water. Private drinking water well sampling was offered twice a year through 2024. The Navy has since re-evaluated the 2016-2024 private drinking water well results using the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells (Table 1). No additional private drinking water wells were at or above the DoD levels. Beginning in June 2025, additional private drinking water well sampling occurred near NALF Fentress. Sampling included new wells based on additional information discovered about groundwater flow direction at NALF Fentress and the resampling of wells previously sampled. During this sampling, there were no additional detections at or above the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells.
Table 2 provides a summary of the results of the private drinking water well sampling to date. Table 3 presents the individual results to date.
Table 2. NALF Fentress – Private Drinking Water Well Results Summary as of August 4, 2025
| Dates of Sampling |
Number of Wells Sampled |
Number of wells with no detections of PFAS with DoD Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells |
Number of wells with detections of PFAS below the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells |
Number of wells with detections of PFAS at or above the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells |
Number of wells with detections of PFOA and/or PFOS above 70 ppt* |
| 2016-2024 |
69 |
30 |
32 |
7 |
7 |
*For any drinking water wells with PFOA and/or PFOS individually or combined above 70 ppt, the Navy can provide bottled water for drinking and cooking until a more enduring solution is implemented.
Table 3. NALF Fentress – 2016-2024 Private Drinking Water Well Results
At this time the Navy is requesting permission to sample private drinking water wells located in the sampling area (Figure 2). The Navy is also requesting property owner permission to resample private drinking water wells located in the sampling area that were previously sampled by the Navy between 2016 and 2024.
Figure 2 – Sampling Areas near NALF Fentress
Actions Based on Private Drinking Water Sampling Results
The preliminary results from the private drinking water well sampling are expected approximately 30 days after collecting the samples. The Navy provides notification to the property owners and tenants of their drinking water results and any follow-up actions, if needed.
The Navy will address PFAS in private drinking water wells in keeping with the DoD policy:
PFAS at or above the DoD PFAS Interim Actions Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells (Table 1). The Navy will work with property owners to implement an enduring solution as soon as possible. Options for enduring solutions may include connection to public water supply or installation of a drinking water treatment system. For any drinking water wells with PFOA and PFOS, individually or combined, above 70 ppt, the Navy will provide bottled water for drinking and cooking to property owners or tenants until a more enduring solution is implemented.
PFAS below the DoD PFAS Interim Action Levels for Private Drinking Water Wells (Table 1). For final remedial actions, the Navy will address drinking water down to EPA NPDWR or background levels in accordance with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) requirements.
Identification of PFAS Releases at Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress
The Navy conducted at Preliminary Assessment (PA), PFAS Site Inspection (SI), and SI Addendum between 2015 and 2022. During these assessments, areas where known or suspected releases of fire-fighting foams and other PFAS-containing substances were identified and investigated. Sample collection and analysis of on-base potable water, groundwater, soil, surface water, and sediment were completed and PFAS were detected in these media. The PFAS release areas investigated at NALF Fentress are shown on Figure 3. Remedial investigations are ongoing at all release areas.
The Navy will continue to investigate PFAS at NALF Fentress following the CERCLA process and will evaluate if actions are needed. To find out more about the environmental investigation at NALF Fentress, visit the Administrative Record.
Figure 3 – PFAS Release Areas
NALF Fentress Private Drinking Water Sampling Documents
Links
To learn more about the DoD’s response to PFAS in private drinking water wells, the November 19, 2024 DoD PFAS Outreach Event recording can be found here.