Progress continues toward cleaning up decades of soil and groundwater contamination at Beale Air Force Base. But it’s expected to take at least another 60 years, and perhaps longer, to complete all the work. A formal Environmental Restoration Program was established in the early 1990’s, to provide a more organized and systematic approach. Program Manager Darren Rector says the problems are not unusual for a base that’s been around this long. He says the focus has now shifted more toward containing groundwater chemical plumes, to make sure they don’t grow past base property…

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Rector says drinking water for base personnel is not threatened, but precautions have been taken for some private property owners. He says Beale is now looking at what are called “per-fluorinated” compounds,because the health and environmental risk is not known, and the EPA has not yet established regulatory standards….

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That kind of firefighting foam was first used by the Air Force in 1970. Rector says they’re focussing on areas near the flight line, main operations, and housing compounds.