GWA official: Source of contaminated wells may be '97 Korean Air crash

Three island water wells found to have contained a chemical above health advisory levels set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have been shut off, according to the local water utility’s assistant general manager.

The source of the chemicals has yet to be determined, but Paul Kemp, Guam Waterworks Authority’s assistant general manager, said one source might have been a Korean Air flight that crashed in Guam in 1997, killing hundreds of passengers.

Exposure to high levels of the chemical, Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS, has been linked to developmental defects in fetuses and breast-fed infants, as well as cancer, among other health problems, according to U.S. EPA.

However, Kemp said the chemical isn’t toxic.

Kemp explained the chemical is found in bottled water. The white lining on the inside of a bottle cap, he said, is coated with the chemical.

“It’s been around since the '50s and they haven’t found anybody that’s been sick from it yet,” he said.

Harmful chemical found in three Guam water wells

GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf said two of the wells shut off are located in Hagåtña and the third is in Tiyan.

Customers who receive water from those wells are in the Tiyan area, as well as the south side of the A.B. Won Pat International Airport near the runway, Kemp said. Water also went to customers located near the McDonald’s on Route 4 in Hagåtña, as well as customers down as far as Piti, and a few in Sinajana, he said.

Kemp said a small area of the island was affected by the contaminated wells.

Kemp said the contaminants in the Tiyan well likely are from the airport because it’s common in foam associated with firefighting on airfields.

As for the other areas, the agency is unsure about where the chemical originated.

“We have no clue because they’re not near the airport, and there are no factories in the area,” he said.

One likelihood, he said, is the chemical was used to put out the fire from the Korean Air Flight 801 crash on Aug. 6, 1997.

The airplane hit a hillside near Nimitz Hill. The crash killed 226 people.

“Maybe that’s what we’re seeing in some of those wells at the bottom of those hills,” he said.

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The chemical is resistant to decomposition, he said.

PFOS is used to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food and cookware resistant to water or grease. It’s also used for fighting fires at airfields, according to a U.S. EPA fact sheet.

The levels of PFOS detected at five sampling sites, or wells, were measured at 41 to 110 parts per trillion. An EPA health advisory is required for levels above 70 parts per trillion, and three of the five wells exceeded that mark, according to U.S. EPA’s San Francisco Region 9 Drinking Water Management Section.

GWA is erring on the safe side, Kemp said, and shutting off the affected wells.

The water agency also planned to send out notices Thursday to about 1,000 customers who were receiving the chemical in their drinking water.

Affected customers should receive the notices Friday or Saturday, he said.

The agency is doing another round of sampling on seven wells, including five wells where the chemicals were found but in concentrations lower than the health advisory level.

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With the closure of the wells, Kemp said the agency eliminated the chemical's exposure to the public.

“Drink the water, it’s fine,” he said.

Catherine Cruz Norton, public affairs officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas, said no known traces of the chemical were identified within one mile of drinking water wells located on Andersen Air Force Base.

Nine production wells that provide drinking water to Naval Base Guam were sampled on July 2014 and January 2015, she said.

Surface water sources also were sampled in July and October 2014 and January and April 2015.

The test results were reported to U.S. EPA and Guam EPA, she said.

"As a precaution, environmental personnel will test for PFCs at production wells servicing (the air force base) sometime this year," she said.