More than 150,000 gallons of water tainted with toxic Air Force firefighting chemicals was released into the Colorado Springs Utilities sewer system last week, Peterson Air Force Base confirmed Tuesday. 
 
 The release came from a holding tank that was designed to corral the firefighting chemicals at a Peterson training area. 
 
 The base's use of the firefighting foam containing the chemical is a key suspect in the contamination of wells in Security, Widefield and Fountain that left thousands of residents scrambling for bottled water. 
 
 The release last week posed no threat to Colorado Springs drinking water. 
 
 The base said the release was discovered Oct. 12. The cause hasn't been determined, but Fred Brooks, Peterson's environmental chief, said the holding tank was designed to be difficult to discharge. 
 
 "It's not a direct connection," Brooks said. "This tank would have to have numerous valves switched to actually discharge." 
 
 Was it intentional? 
 
 "That's a possibility," Brooks said. 
 
 The chemical in the water is a perfluorinated compound, a substance that the Environmental Protection Agency warns can cause ailments including liver and kidney damage and may trigger cancer. The EPA adjusted its maximum safe exposure to the chemical in water to 70 parts per trillion just this year. Testing on the Widefield Aquifer found levels as high as 2,000 parts per trillion. 
 
 An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the discharge, said Col. Doug Schiess, who commands Peterson's 21st Space Wing, in the statement. 
 
 Colorado Springs Utilities said the chemical-laden water passed through the utility's Las Vegas Street sewage treatment plant and was released into Fountain Creek. The plant does not have the capacity to remove the chemical. 
 
 The tank that resulted in the unplanned water discharge from a Peterson fire training area during a press conference outside the Peterson Air Force Base on Tuesday, October 18, 2016. About 150,000 gallons of water being held in a fire training area retention tank was discharged into the CSU sewer system last week. The dome shaped tank in the center of this photo held water that contained an elevated level of perfluorinated compounds, a residual component of a firefighting foam historically used at the base for emergency response. Peterson authorities discovered the discharge during a routine tank inspection on October 12. The tank is part of a system used to recirculate water to the fire training area. Photo by Stacie Scott, The Gazette 
 
 "There was no risk to the drinking water," said Steve Berry, a Utilities spokesman. "This did not impact the drinking water, the finished water system, in any way. It went directly into the wastewater system." 
 
 While Peterson notified Colorado Springs, base officials didn't warn others downstream. Brooks said the base isn't required to issue a wider notification, noting that the chemical is "unregulated" - a term used for substances that haven't drawn enforceable drinking water standards. 
 
 The new spill left Mary Fletcher, who has lived in the Widefield area for 30 years, with a sense of resignation. 
 
 She called the toxic chemicals in her tap water a "pain in the ass," saying the latest spill is "unbelievable." 
 
 "What do you do?" Fletcher said. "As a homeowner, this is your whole world right here, and now all of your water's screwed up. What do you do? It's absolutely terrible." 
 
 Fletcher, 59, lives along Southmoor Drive - an area long exposed to the chemicals, and that still receives fouled tap water, according to a state health department map. She has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and she wonders whether the water caused it. 
 
 Peterson had scheduled a public firefighting demonstration on Oct. 12, the day the discharge was discovered. The fire training exercise was canceled, with a spokesman at the base blaming the delay on a "bad valve" 
 
 Brooks, the base environmental officer, said two mechanical valves and an electric one must be switched to allow water to flow out of the tank, which held the outflow from fire training exercises dating back as far as 2013. 
 
 He said the water wasn't tested for levels of the firefighting chemical. 
 
 A second tank on the base holding fire training residue wasn't discharged. 
 
 The Air Force banned use of the foam outside fire emergencies last year and last month announced a plan to replace the product at all of its bases around the globe. Brooks said the foam at Peterson will be replaced in about two weeks. 
 
 The water contamination in Security, Widefield and Fountain has drawn a pair of lawsuits against the manufacturers of the firefighting foam alleging they sold it to the Air Force despite its toxic risks. 
 
 Although downstream, no drinking water supplied to Pueblo residents by the Pueblo Board of Water Works comes from Fountain Creek, said Paul Fanning, the agency's spokesman. The Pueblo Reservoir does not pull from Fountain Creek. 
 
 The Widefield Water and Sanitation District is the only water system immediately downstream of the treatment plant now using the Widefield Aquifer, which leaches water from Fountain Creek, where the chemicals flowed. 
 
 Widefield officials have previously said they plan to shut off their wells by sometime in October. 
 
 Other communities have shut off their wells to the tainted aquifer. 
 
 All the water flowing to homes supplied by the Security and Fountain water systems now comes from the Pueblo Reservoir - meaning that last week's spill should not affect those communities. 
 
 "The long-term effects would be concerning," said Roy Heald, Security water district's general manager. "But short-term immediate effects - there wouldn't be any for us." 
 
 The EPA said it wasn't involved with the spill. 
 
 The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment gave the Air Force a vote of confidence despite the chemical discharge. 
 
 "The Air Force has demonstrated its commitment to identifying and addressing (perfluorinated compound) contamination at Peterson Air Force Base and facilities nationwide," the state agency said. 
 
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 Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240 
 
 Twitter: ||||| U.S. Air Force officials Tuesday disclosed a 150,000-gallon spill of wastewater laced with invisible toxic perfluorinated chemicals, discharged at least six days ago from a tank at Peterson Air Force Base, into the Colorado Springs sewer system. 
 
 The spill, which Air Force officials said they’re investigating, happened as the Air Force increasingly faces scrutiny as a source of groundwater contamination nationwide. 
 
 The surge of waste containing elevated perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) — used at military airfields to douse fuel fires and linked by federal authorities to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, low birth weights and other health problems — flowed through a Colorado Springs Utilities wastewater treatment plant before crews could try to block it. Then it trickled into Fountain Creek. 
 
 “Even if we would have been able to head it off at the plant, we’re not equipped. I don’t know of any wastewater plants in the country equipped to remove PFCs,” utilities spokesman Steve Berry said. “We would not have been able to remove that chemical before it was discharged back into the environment from our effluent.” 
 
 Fountain Creek flows south toward Pueblo and into the Arkansas River. 
 
 Pueblo Board of Water Works spokesman Paul Fanning said Pueblo didn’t hear about the spill until reporters made inquiries Tuesday. 
 
 “We don’t use any groundwater or surface water from Fountain Creek. We use water from the Arkansas River taken upstream from where Fountain Creek flows in,” Fanning said. “But it is not a good thing to have those contaminants anywhere in our water. There are some reported health effects. It is in our interest to protect our public.” 
 
 Air Force officials couldn’t be reached to discuss the spill. 
 
 “We take all environmental concerns seriously and have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the discharge and prevent it from happening again,” Col. Doug Schiess, commander of the 21st Space Wing at Peterson AFB, said in a prepared statement. 
 
 The PFC-laced waste was held in a tank at a firefighter training area on the base, located at the southeastern edge of Colorado Springs. PFCs are a component in the aqueous film-forming foam used to extinguish fuel fires. 
 
 Air Force officials said in the statement that they discovered the spill Oct. 12 during an inspection. They notified Colorado Springs Utilities the next day. The tank was part of a system used to recirculate water to a firefighter training area. 
 
 PFCs at levels exceeding a federal health advisory limit already had contaminated groundwater and public drinking water systems south of Colorado Springs, an area that is home to an estimated 80,000 people. Peterson AFB is suspected as one source. Federal Army Corps of Engineer officials conducted an initial investigation. 
 
 Air Force officials have said the military’s past use of PFCs for firefighting was legal, but that crews are discontinuing their use except in emergencies. PFCs are not regulated under federal law. Air Force civil engineers are in the process of assessing PFC contamination around the country. They say they’ll put out a report in the spring. 
 
 The PFC-tainted area south of Colorado Springs ranks among the hardest-hit of at least 63 areas nationwide where PFCs have been measured in public water systems at levels the Environmental Protection Agency deems dangerous. 
 
 In Colorado, government well test data show PFCs have contaminated groundwater throughout the Fountain Creek watershed, nearly as far south as Pueblo, at levels up to 20 times higher than that EPA health advisory limit of 70 parts per trillion. 
 
 Public-water authorities in Fountain, Security and Widefield have scrambled to provide enough alternative water. Security has been purchasing millions of gallons of diverted Arkansas River water from Colorado Springs, installing new pipelines and minimizing pumping from contaminated municipal wells. Since Sept. 9, Security has not pumped any water from wells, water and sanitation district manager Roy Heald said. “This spill does not affect us immediately,” Heald said. “Our only concern would be the long-term effect on Fountain Creek and the Widefield Aquifer.” 
 
 Some parents south of Colorado Springs began paying for bottled water — to be safe. A contractor delivers emergency bottled water to at least 77 households. 
 
 The Air Force has contributed $4.3 million to help communities deal with the contamination. 
 
 Colorado Springs utilities crews will work with the military “to keep PFCs out of our system. That is the goal,” Berry said. “How do we protect our customers and our system from this chemical? That is the focus. It goes beyond the Air Force. It is any industrial process that may use that chemical.” 
 
 El Paso County Public Health “takes this discharge seriously and will coordinate with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to collect water samples along Fountain Creek, if warranted,” spokeswoman Danielle Oller said. 
 
 CDPHE has been informed, agency spokesman Mark Salley said, adding: “It is under investigation by the Air Force, and the department is waiting for information. … The Air Force has demonstrated its commitment to identifying and addressing PFC contamination at Peterson Air Force Base and facilities nationwide.”
– Some 150,000 gallons of water contaminated by toxic firefighting chemicals were discharged from a Colorado Air Force Base into a city sewer system, and authorities can't explain why. Peterson Air Force Base has confirmed that water containing perfluorinated chemicals—PFCs—flowed through Colorado Springs Utilities wastewater treatment plant before ending up in Fountain Creek, which leads to the Arkansas River. PFCs, which have been linked to health problems such as liver and kidney damage, had already been found at up to 20 times safe limits in the area south of the base, the Denver Post reports. A base spokesman tells the Colorado Springs Gazette that the discharge, which was discovered Oct. 12. came from a tank that held outflow from training exercises from as far back as 2013. He says the tank is designed to be difficult to discharge, suggesting the release was an intentional act. The Air Force says it has stopped using firefighting foam containing PFCs, except in emergencies. The Post notes that PFCs have been found at levels deemed dangerous in 63 areas nationwide, with the area south of Colorado Springs among the worst. The Air Force, which has contributed $4.3 million to help area communities deal with the contamination, plans to put out a report on the issue next year.