“The Environmental Protection Agency sets 70 parts-per-trillion as the maximum safe level. Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, reported 8 million parts-per-trillion in its ground water.”

UPDATE June 24th, 2026

Publisher’s Note: Newcomers to China Lake and the Indian Wells Valley probably don’t know that for decades, the Navy had a mock carrier deck constructed on the base that was used for firefighters and sailors to train for fighting fires on carriers. It’s why “Naval Weapons Station China Lake, California, reported 8 million parts-per-trillion in its groundwater“. This probably exceeds any known concentration of PFAS groundwater pollution in the entire world! The Indian Wells Valley is a closed groundwater basin. Water flows in, but it doesn’t flow out, it just travels underground. This could also explain why the Navy’s DRI 2-D groundwater model has vanished. Of course, we can’t prove it. (Shhh! Secret City)

The Indian Wells Valley may contain one of the highest concentration levels of PFAS polluted groundwater in the United States world, and it’s all located on the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California.

Today, Dr. Sean McKenna will testify in the Indian Wells Valley’s Comprehensive Adjudication Phase 2 trial. The IWV Groundwater Authority relied on the Navy’s model, developed for the Navy by the Desert Research Institute, to determine the Safe Yield of 7,650 acre-feet per year in the IWV groundwater basin.

It was recently disclosed that just prior to the trial and after years of requesting the model for independent testing and evaluation, the model has “vanished”. The model is referred to as the GA/DRI 2-D model in the trial brief prepared by attorneys for the Indian Wells Valley Water District.

What is the GA/DRI 2-D Model and why does it matter that it “vanished”? (our emphasis added)

Groundwater flow models are used to determine where water travels underground. Dr. McKenna’s expertise includes studies in groundwater flows and how long it takes for irrigation water on the farms in Inyokern to percolate into the groundwater:

“Dr. McKenna is the only expert that has attempted to calculate how long it would take for irrigation return flows to percolate through the basin to the water table. Dr. McKenna calculates it would take 122 years or longer.”

We ask the question, why did the Navy’s DRI 2-D model vanish? If it ever existed, it’s not plausible to believe that it just disappeared or that a retired DRI professor took it home with him.

The DRI 2-D Model, which forms the basis of 7,650 AFY of inflow in the current
2025 DRI Model, was not available for review.

It “vanished“

The following are excerpts from the Groundwater Authority’s trial brief:

Sean McKenna, testifying for the United States and the Navy, is the Executive
Director of DRI’s Division of Hydrologic Sciences and has nearly 40 years of experience in
groundwater research and modeling.

And, as to return flows, Dr. McKenna is the only expert that has attempted to
calculate how long it would take for irrigation return flows to percolate through the basin to
the water table. (Pg. 31-32 GA Trial Brief)

Dr. McKenna will be testifying today, June 24th, 2026. You can follow the trial here:

November 16, 2021 (Originally published)

Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake California

The Senate is about to pass the fiscal year 2022 NDAA which will require the Secretary of Defense to conduct testing, removal, and remediation of a toxic groundwater pollutant named PFAS. It’s found at 700 military installations, formerly used defense sites, and State-owned facilities of the National Guard in the United States. The toxic chemical has come to be known as “the forever chemical” because it doesn’t break down and isn’t easily removed from water. As reported by defensenews.com,

On 14 installations, PFAS levels measured 1 million parts-per-trillion in the ground water, while the Environmental Protection Agency sets 70 parts-per-trillion as the maximum safe level. Some places topped even that number. Naval Weapons Station China Lake, California, reported 8 million parts-per-trillion in its ground water.

The Department of Defense has formed a Task Force to work with communities to cleanup groundwater polluted by the toxic foam. In addition, the DoD’s PFAS website includes a comprehensive overview of the problem and solutions being implemented to treat and remove the pollutant from military bases nationwide.

In addition to NAWS, the Navy has 35 locations in California to assess for PFAS. The testing and public disclosure of results will be required within 10 days after test results are complete. All DoD facilities where the substance is found will be tested within the next two years. In addition, the toxic foam is still used and must be discontinued by 2024. The costs of remediation and replacement of equipment will be in the hundreds of billions.

Because the chemical persists in the groundwater “forever”, it’s likely to have spread beyond the areas of the base where it was used for training and testing for decades. PFAS has been used in other products besides the foam fire retardant. In May of this year, China Lake tested a new “PFAS-free” foam pursuant to Section 322 of the 2020 NDAA and briefed Congress in September. The report is found here.

Update November 18, 2021: In today’s Water Management Committee meeting, Don Zdeba, general manager for IWVWD announced that the district tested its wells for PFAS as recently as October and found no contamination. The status of any groundwater testing conducted on the Navy’s wells is unknown.

PFAS Explained by the EPA

PFAS: A National Issue That Needs National Solutions

Interactive map of 678 Military Sites With Known and Suspected Discharges of PFAS.

The DoD released its first report from the PFAS Task Force in March 2020

HR 4350 National Defense Authorization Act FY 2022 (pdf) See Title III, Sections 319-321

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-08/firefighting-foam-leaves-toxic-legacy-california-water