VT Air Guard Base pollutes Winooski river

By Elizabeth Gribkoff
Mar 31, 2020

PFAS contamination has been found in groundwater and surface water — including a stretch of the Winooski River — near the Vermont Air National Guard base in South Burlington.

The findings come in a draft report released last week by the Guard on the extent of the contamination by the so-called “forever chemicals” — largely from now-banned firefighting foam — at the 281-acre base. State Department of Environmental Conservation staff need to review the report before it is finalized.

“This has been a very thorough process to determine potential impacts from the use of PFAS on our base and I am encouraged that we can now move toward the next phase of this critically important work,” said Col. Adam Rice, 158th Fighter Wing vice commander, in a prepared statement. He added that elevated PFAS levels were not found in drinking water on or off-base.

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