Report: Well tests produce negligible PFAS results

Testing of 57 private wells in Curry and Roosevelt counties conducted in May produced negligible amounts of pollutant chemicals found in and around Cannon Air Force Base in 2018 that caused dairy farm shutdowns, according to a report from the New Mexico Environment Department.

The chemicals were associated with firefighting foam sprayed on the ground by trainees at Cannon.

In May, amounts of the chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), found in well tests were many times below the level considered harmful , according to the report.

The report stated that only nine of the 57 wells tested had any detectable amount of PFAS.

In 2018, PFAS were found in high enough concentrations in dairy farm wells close to Cannon that dairy operations were halted, according to news reports at the time.

The tests conducted in May, however, found levels of chemicals groups under PFAS that were 20 to 350,000 times lower than the most stringent standards in Michigan, Minnesota and Massachusetts, an environment department report for October 2021 stated.

“The maximum total PFA concentation detected at any single well during this sampling effort was 7.4 parts per trillion” at a well in Roosevelt County, the report stated.

The tests were conducted using $100,000 in funds allocated by the New Mexico Legislature in 2020, the report states.

Wells tested were on property volunteered by owners for the tests, the report stated.

The most-studied PFAS chemicals have been found to cause reproductive and developmental, liver and kidney, and immunological effects in laboratory animals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.