Read the full article by Brahm Resnik (12 News)
“LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz — Hundreds of people who live next door to Luke Air Force Base in Glendale are being advised not to drink their water after tests detected high levels of toxic chemicals.
The chemicals are from toxic firefighting foam that has seeped into the ground around Luke for decades.
‘It was a shock to us today, and it actually scared us,’ said Winifred Whelan, who built a home with her husband almost 20 years ago in what is now a large subdivision bordering Litchfield Road, east of the airbase.
Whelan had just received a letter from the Luke commander warning customers of Valley Utilities Water Co. not to drink their water or cook with it.
It was the first she had heard of potential water problems near Luke.
‘All we got was one letter and that was it,’ Whelan said.
The communication was poor, she said. Many of her neighbors weren’t aware of the water warning.
According to a Luke spokesman, the letter went out to 1,700 customers of Texas-based Valley Utilities Water Co., a small, privately-owned water company in the West Valley.
The U.S. Air Force, the letter said, will be providing water supplies for the next month while it figures out how to deal with the potential toxic contamination.
Air Force representatives collected water from several Valley Utilities wells to detect the presence of any toxic chemicals associated with foam used to fight petroleum-based fires…”