Read the full article by Mark Phillips (ABC 15)
“GLENDALE, AZ — A representative from the Valley Water Utilities Company told the Arizona Corporation Commission Wednesday, chemical contamination from Luke Air Force Base was first detected in 2016. The level in one well exceeded the EPA’s safety limit of 70 parts per trillion limit. But Valley admitted it never considered doing its own follow-up testing, relying on the ADEQ and Luke AFB to do it instead.
‘The cost of these types of things may not be recoverable from the Air Force Base in the future,’ Valley Water’s Chief Financial Officer Bryan Thomas said. ‘Due to the high cost of the treatment equipment, we didn’t feel like our ratepayers could bare those costs for unregulated contaminants.’
More than 1,000 Valley Utilities water customers are receiving their drinking and cooking water from Luke Air Force Base. Luke started distributing the water after it confirmed a plume of the chemicals PFOS and PFOA had made its way into the water table around the base, polluting some private wells and now three Valley utility wells…”