Read the full article by Anna Padilla (University of New Mexico)
“A team of researchers from The University of New Mexico’s Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) has shared new research on the contamination at Holloman Lake in southern New Mexico. The team began studying PFAS contamination of wildlife at Holloman Lake in 2021.
In an article published in 2024, the team reported world-record concentrations of PFAS in birds and mammals at the lake. The article showed that contamination spanned a period of at least 30 years and was connected to the use of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) used by military installations. The new article, ‘Ecosystem-wide PFAS characterization and environmental behavior at a heavily contaminated desert oasis in the southwestern U.S.,’ published in the journal Environmental Research, confirms previous findings and analyzes all the factors contributing to the unprecedented levels of contamination at Holloman Lake.
‘Holloman Lake itself – its surface water and sediments, its flora and fauna – is the known epicenter of the massive PFAS contamination we have been studying since 2021, but we do not yet know the boundaries of the affected area,’ said Research Professor Jean-Luc Cartron, UNM Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology and lead author of the new report. Much of the playa environment downstream of Holloman could be contaminated, and, even more important, the movements of animals and animal populations around the landscape are essential factors to consider. Contaminated animals may travel far from Holloman and contaminate other ecosystems or pose a risk to hunters.” …