What to know
These results for Tarawa Terrace are based on information gathering, data interpretations, and water-modeling analyses for former Marines and their families who lived in Tarawa Terrace family housing units during the period November 1957 through February 1987.
Tarawa Terrace
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is the lead agency determining if exposures to PCE and TCE in drinking water are associated with adverse health outcomes among the children of Marines stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
A new analysis shows that former Marines and their families who lived in Tarawa Terrace family housing units during the period November 1957 through February 1987 received contaminated drinking water containing the dry-cleaning solvent, tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Levels of PCE in the drinking water during this period exceeded the amount currently allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Exposure to PCE-contaminated drinking water occurred because PCE leaked into groundwater that supplied the Tarawa Terrace drinking water system from a dry-cleaner located outside the Camp Lejeune military base. In 1987, the military base shut down the Tarawa Terrace water treatment plant because of PCE contamination of the drinking water.
ATSDR Response to Department of Navy Letter on Assessment of Tarawa Terrace Water Modeling On June 19, 2008, the Department of Navy (DON) provided ATSDR with technical comments on the Tarawa Terrace water-modeling analyses. On March 10, 2009, ATSDR responded to the DON comments. The DON letter and the ATSDR response are contained in the following PDF file.
Summary of the water contamination situation at Camp Lejeune Summary of the water modeling contamination situation at Camp Lejeune including water treatment plants serving base housing areas, sources of contamination, concentrations of chemicals detected, and water modeling results.