Camp Lejeune Background

U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune was established near the city of Jacksonville, N.C, in 1942. In 1982, the Marine Corps discovered volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in finished drinking water in two of the eight water treatment plants on base.

Leaking underground storage tanks, spills and drum disposal caused contamination. Contamination was also caused by solvent-disposal practices at ABC One-Hour Cleaners.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has been assessing the effects of exposure to drinking water containing VOCs since 1993. ATSDR activities include a 1997 Public Health Assessment, the 1998 Study on Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and a telephone interview of parents of children who were carried or conceived at Camp Lejeune during 1968-1985. In addition, the current study, titled "Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Specific Birth Defects and Childhood Cancers at United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina," began in Spring 2005.

ATSDR is a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whose mission is to serve the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances.

New! Tarawa Terrace Chapter G
This report, Chapter G, describes the three-dimensional simulation of the fate, degradation, and advective dispersive transport of PCE and associated degradation by-products—TCE, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (1,2-tDCE), and vinyl chloride (VC)—within the Tarawa Terrace aquifer and Castle Hayne aquifer system at Tarawa Terrace and vicinity

New! View video of the April 17, 2008 Community Assistance Panel Meeting:  Part 1 | Part 2

Find Out PCE Levels During Your Tour
Find out the levels of PCE and PCE degradation by-products in the drinking water serving your home in Tarawa Terrace by entering the dates you lived in Tarawa Terrace housing from 1952 to 1987.

Update on ATSDR Current Study
ATSDR is conducting a study to investigate whether children born during 1968 through 1985 to mothers who were exposed to VOC-contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune at any time during their pregnancy had increased risk for certain health effects. This study is entitled, Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds in Drinking Water and Specific Birth Defects and Childhood Cancers, United States Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. In April 2005, interviews of parents of children with specific health effects and a sample of parents whose children did not have these health effects began.

The USMC Camp Lejeune Web Site
Site created by the U.S. Marine Corps devoted to the Camp Lejeune drinking water investigation.

Upcoming Events

Camp Lejeune News Release Archive

Events Archive

• Report of Water-Modeling Expert Panel Released