Camp Lejeune, the sprawling Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, is the site of one of the worst drinking water contamination events in American history. For more than three decades — from the 1950s through 1987 — the base’s drinking water supply was contaminated with toxic industrial solvents, fuel compounds, and other chemicals at levels hundreds or thousands of times above current safety limits.
An estimated 1 million Marines, Navy personnel, family members, and civilian workers were potentially exposed during that period. The health consequences have been devastating, and the legal and political battle for accountability stretched across 40 years before Congress finally acted.
What Was in the Water
The contamination centered on two of the base’s eight water treatment plants:
Tarawa Terrace Treatment Plant
The primary contaminant was tetrachloroethylene (PCE), also known as perchloroethylene — a solvent widely used in dry cleaning. An off-base dry cleaning business, ABC One-Hour Cleaners, disposed of PCE waste that seeped into the groundwater feeding the Tarawa Terrace wells. PCE levels reached as high as 215 parts per billion — the current EPA maximum contaminant level is 5 ppb.
Hadnot Point Treatment Plant
This plant served the main base area and was contaminated with multiple chemicals:
- Trichloroethylene (TCE): An industrial degreasing solvent. Levels reached as high as 1,400 ppb — 280 times the current EPA limit of 5 ppb.
- Benzene: A known carcinogen found in fuels. Levels reached 380 ppb — the current EPA limit is 5 ppb.
- Vinyl chloride: A degradation product of TCE and a known carcinogen. Levels reached 67 ppb — the current EPA limit is 2 ppb.
- Trans-1,2-dichloroethylene and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
The contamination sources at Hadnot Point included leaking underground fuel storage tanks, industrial solvents used in maintenance operations, and waste disposal practices common on military installations during that era.
Timeline of Discovery and Response
The contamination timeline reveals a pattern of slow recognition and delayed action:
- 1950s-1980s: Contaminated water is distributed to base housing, barracks, offices, schools, hospitals, and other facilities. Nobody is testing for these chemicals — they aren’t yet regulated.
- 1980: The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund) is enacted, requiring identification of contaminated sites.
- 1982: Marine Corps environmental staff detect organic contaminants in the Hadnot Point water supply.
- 1984: Testing confirms specific contamination at Hadnot Point. Some wells are taken offline.
- 1985: Tarawa Terrace contamination with PCE is confirmed. The ABC One-Hour Cleaners site is identified as the source.
- 1987: The last contaminated wells are closed. All base water now meets safety standards.
- 1989: Camp Lejeune is placed on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List.
The gap between 1982 (when contamination was first detected) and 1987 (when the last contaminated wells were shut down) is particularly troubling — people continued drinking contaminated water for five years after the Marine Corps knew about the problem.
Health Effects
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the CDC, has conducted multiple studies on the health effects of Camp Lejeune’s water contamination. Their findings link the exposure to increased rates of:
- Cancers: Kidney cancer, liver cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and other cancers
- Birth defects: Neural tube defects, oral cleft defects, and other developmental abnormalities in children born to women who were pregnant while living on base
- Neurological effects: Parkinson’s disease, other neurodegenerative conditions
- Liver disease: Including hepatic steatosis (fatty liver disease)
- Kidney disease
- Reproductive effects: Including miscarriage and infertility
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has established a presumptive service connection for veterans who served at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 cumulative days between August 1953 and December 1987. This means veterans with certain conditions can receive VA disability benefits without having to prove their specific illness was caused by the water.
The presumptive conditions include: bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, Parkinson’s disease, and aplastic anemia/myelodysplastic syndromes, among others.
The PACT Act and Legal Claims
For decades, Marines and family members who got sick after exposure to Camp Lejeune’s water were barred from filing lawsuits by North Carolina’s statute of repose, which extinguished claims 10 years after the last exposure — regardless of when the illness appeared. Since many cancers and diseases have latency periods of 20 to 40 years, this effectively blocked all legal recourse.
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act, passed as part of the PACT Act in August 2022, changed that. The law created a two-year window for individuals who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days between August 1953 and December 1987 to file claims against the federal government.
The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of claims were filed before the August 2024 deadline. The Department of Justice and Navy have been processing claims through both administrative settlement offers and federal court litigation, though the pace has been criticized as slow by claimants and their attorneys.
The Groundwater Today
Camp Lejeune remains on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List, and cleanup efforts continue. The base operates groundwater treatment systems that pump and treat contaminated water to prevent further migration of the plume. Monitoring wells throughout the base track contaminant levels.
The current drinking water at Camp Lejeune meets all federal standards — it has since 1987, when the last contaminated wells were closed. The base now draws water from uncontaminated wells and applies standard treatment processes.
But the contamination plume remains in the soil and groundwater beneath parts of the base, and full remediation of the subsurface contamination is a multi-decade process.
Lessons for Other Communities
Camp Lejeune’s contamination shares common elements with groundwater contamination at military bases across the country. The Department of Defense has identified PFAS contamination (primarily from firefighting foam) at hundreds of installations, and legacy solvent and fuel contamination affects many more.
For communities near military installations:
- Check whether your base is on the Superfund list or has known groundwater contamination. The EPA maintains a searchable database of NPL sites.
- If you have a private well near a military base, get your water tested for VOCs, PFAS, and fuel compounds. State environmental agencies can direct you to certified labs.
- Municipal water systems near bases should be testing for PFAS and other contaminants associated with military operations.
If you live near a military installation or former industrial site and are concerned about your groundwater quality, a certified water treatment professional can test your water and recommend appropriate treatment solutions.