NAVAL AIR STATION SAUFLEY FIELD

Environmental Restoration Program Public Website

SAMPLING PFAS IN PRIVATE DRINKING WATER WELLS NEAR SAUFLEY FIELD

Certain PFAS have been detected in groundwater at Saufley Field above the DoD PFAS interim action levels for private drinking water wells. In 2019, the Navy established a sampling area 1 mile in the direction that groundwater flows away from the PFAS release areas. In 2025, the sampling area was expanded to 1 mile from the installation boundary. The Navy is offering sampling to all property owners whose property is within the 2019 and 2025 sampling areas (Figure 2) and whose drinking water is supplied by a private drinking water well that has not yet been sampled by the Navy.

Records indicate that some properties within the sampling area obtain drinking water from public water supplier Emerald Coast Utilities Authority. If your drinking water is provided by Emerald Coast Utilities Authority or another public water system, the Navy does not need to sample your drinking water.

The Navy has reevaluated the 2019 off-base private drinking water well results using the DoD PFAS interim action levels for private drinking water wells (Table 1). At Saufley Field there are 10 wells that are above DoD PFAS interim action levels. The Navy is contacting each of these property owners to request permission and begin implementation of an interim action.

2019 PRIVATE DRINKING WATER WELL SAMPLING

The Navy sampled private drinking water wells at Saufley Field in 2019. The 2019 sampling area (Figure 2) was established 1 mile from PFAS release areas in the direction that groundwater flows away from the potential release areas.

Table 2 provides a summary of the results of the sampling. Table 3 presents the PFAS results. At Saufley Field, fourteen properties had detections of PFOA and/or PFOS above 70 ppt, the Navy’s action level at the time. These 14 properties initially were provided bottled water for drinking and cooking; subsequently these properties were connected to Emerald Coast Utilities Authority public water.

The Navy has reevaluated the 2019 off-base private drinking water well results using the DoD PFAS interim action levels for private drinking water wells (Table 1); the results of this evaluation are shown in Table 2. At Saufley Field there are 10 wells that are above DoD PFAS interim action levels.

Table 2: Saufley Field 2019 Private Drinking Water Well Results Summary

Number of Wells Sampled	Number of wells with no detections of PFOA or PFOS	Number of wells with detections of PFOA and/or PFOS below 70 ppt*	Number of wells with detections of PFAS below the DoD PFAS interim action levels	Number of wells with detections of PFAS at or above DoD PFAS interim action levels
53	8	31	22	24**

*70 ppt for PFOA and PFOS, individually or combined, was the Navy's action level at the time of this sampling.
** 14 of these wells are no longer used as a source for drinking water, and these properties have been connected to public water.

Table 3: Saufley Field 2019 Private Drinking Water Well Results

Sample	PFOA (ppt)	PFOS (ppt)	PFOA+PFOS (ppt)	PFNA (ppt)	PFHxS (ppt)	HFPO-DA (ppt)	PFBS (ppt)	Hazard Index
1	1,756.99 J	183.89 J	1,940.88	0.44 J	271.22 J	ND	30.92 J	27.18
2	5.79	4.68	10.47	0.28 J	3.98	ND	0.98 J	0.43
3	13.89	1.7 J	15.59	ND	1.42 J	ND	0.42 J	0.14
4	1,005.31 J	31.25 J	1,036.56	0.2 J	78.75 J	ND	9.47 J	7.90
5	1,012.08 J	103.25 J	1,115.33	0.33 J	132.88 J	ND	13.76 J	13.33
6	3.85	6.55	10.4	0.14 J	1.98 J	ND	5.24	0.21
7	641.88 J	1,420.09 J	2,061.97	3.48 J	678.25 J	ND	57.75 J	68.20
8	5.54	7.27	12.81	ND	19.07	ND	1.47	1.91
9	4.22	ND	4.22	ND	1.61 J	ND	0.51 J	0.16
10	59.11	363.78	422.89	2.91 J	95.96	ND	5.25 J	9.89
11	187.3	630.69	817.99	2.85 J	334.03	ND	23.34 J	33.70
12	3,489.42 J	232.57 J	3,721.99	0.42 J	447.98 J	ND	50.21 J	44.87
13	15.21	33.97	49.18	1.01 J	13.69	ND	10.65	1.43
14	13.9 J	23.7	35.5	2.23 J	5.11	ND	10.79	0.72
15	2,363.34 J	7,337.72 J	9,701.06	3.57 J	1,475.91 J	ND	178.63 J	148.04
16	18	5.36	23.36	0.24 J	13.39	ND	2.37	1.36
17	21.69	4.84	26.53	0.23 J	14.18	ND	1.94 J	1.44
18	5.81	4.59	10.4	0.46 J	0.81 J	ND	15.69	0.13
19	1,296.55	353.32	1,649.87	0.69 J	284.91	ND	31.7 J	28.58
20	957.09	1,828.99	2,786.08	2.55 J	901.87	ND	64.56	90.47
21	0.59 J	0.53 J	1.12	ND	0.19 J	ND	ND	0.02
22	3.35	1.5 J	4.85	0.2 J	2.72	ND	10.52	0.30
23	ND	0.15 J	0.15	ND	ND	ND	ND	0.00
24	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
25	0.59 J	1.19 J	1.78	ND	0.45 J	ND	0.19 J	0.05
26	5.01	4.86	9.87	0.25 J	2.78	ND	2.51	0.30
27	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
28	4.87	2.01 J	6.88	ND	1.04 J	ND	0.13 J	0.10
29	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
30	256.94 J	403.97 J	660.91	2.77 J	94.73 J	ND	10.49 J	9.76
31	21.14	45.99	67.13	0.76 J	9.54	ND	36.81	1.04
32	ND	0.13 J	0.13	ND	ND	ND	ND	0.00
33	4.43	3.08	7.51	0.15 J	0.91 J	ND	4.76	0.11
34	1.07 J	6.82	7.89	ND	0.61 J	ND	0.34 J	0.06
35	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
36	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
37	3.43	6.33	9.76	0.14 J	1.91 J	ND	1.31 J	0.21
38	17.27	1.51 J	18.78	ND	1.66 J	ND	0.17 J	0.17
39	475.6	905.24 J	1,380.84	1.91 J	581.05 J	ND	59.12	58.33
40	2,034.49 J	299.39 J	2,333.88	0.61 J	387.57 J	ND	45.54 J	38.84
41	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
42	2.33	1.46 J	3.79	ND	0.98 J	ND	0.16 J	0.10
43	1.98 J	2.99	4.97	0.12 J	1.5 J	ND	0.29 J	0.16
44	2.45	12.03	14.48	0.11 J	1.35 J	ND	0.91 J	0.15
45	2.71	2.45	5.16	0.13 J	1.32 J	ND	2.86	0.15
46	4.35 J	13.22 J	17.57	0.16 J	1.51 J	ND	ND	0.17
47	ND	ND	ND	ND	0.36 J	ND	ND	0.04
48	18.94	8.07	27.01	0.28 J	5.82	ND	ND	0.61
49	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	ND	NC
50	10.42	11.54	21.96	0.61 J	5.17	ND	1.6 J	0.58
51	ND	0.24 J	0.24	ND	0.51 J	ND	0.13 J	0.05
52	0.68 J	0.49 J	1.17	ND	0.36 J	ND	ND	0.04
53	58.1	26	84.1	2.02 J	18	ND	7.73	1.86

HI - Hazard Index. EPA Hazard Index Fact Sheet
ND - not detected
NC - hazard index not calculated because no PFAS were detected
NS - not sampled
J - laboratory estimated value

Figure 2: Private Drinking Water Well Sampling Area – NAS Pensacola

IDENTIFICATION OF PFAS RELEASES AT SAUFLEY FIELD

The PFAS Preliminary Assessment (PA) identified areas where releases of PFAS may have occurred and was finalized in 2020 (Tetra Tech, 2020). Based on the results of the PFAS PA, the PFAS Site Inspection (SI) was completed (Tetra Tech, 2023). Sample collection and analysis of groundwater, surface water, and soil were conducted in August 2021 at Saufley Field. PFAS were found in groundwater and soil at Saufley Field. The PFAS release areas that were investigated during the SI are depicted on Figure 3 and listed below. The Navy will continue investigating PFAS at Saufley Field following the CERCLA process and will evaluate if actions are needed.

PFAS Release Areas – Saufley Field