Joint Regional Marianas: Water on military bases on Guam safe to drink

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Water produced on Guam’s military installations is safe to drink, the Joint Region Marianas said today, noting that laboratory tests on samples indicated that dieldrin presence was below risk level.

Brett Meitus

“Maintaining the safety of our Guam community, both civilian and military, remains our top priority,” said Rear Adm. Brett Mietus, JRM commander.

Dieldrin, which has been detected in some water wells around Guam, is an insecticide used on island from the 1950s until 1987. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency listed this chemical as a probable carcinogen.

“The most recent quarterly laboratory results for all active military drinking water entry points to the distribution system on Guam military installations were below Guam EPA’s interim action level for dieldrin of 0.2 µg/L (parts per billion/ppb),” Mietus said in a statement.

The interim action level is a regulatory measure established by Guam EPA, setting a maximum contaminant level for dieldrin in drinking water to gauge the chemical's potential health risks.

“For this round of testing, 14 wells and three surface water sources are active. Based on the existing system architecture, some ETPDS locations are fed by more than one well,” Meitus said.

Two tests returned with detectable levels of dieldrin that are 15 times below the Guam EPA IAL (0.2 µg/L).

These tests corresponded to one well located at the Skaggs Urban Training Complex and one combined EPTDS by Building 1350 on Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz.

The water from these wells is safe to drink (Marbo Well 1: 0.011 µg/L; Combined EPTDS: 0.012 µg/L). All other tests resulted in a “non-detect,” indicating no dieldrin was detected.

"Per standard procedure, quarterly sample results are provided to Guam EPA. In the future, JRM will only notify the public if quarterly sample levels rise above the IAL," Meitus said.

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