For more than three decades, from 1953 to 1987, up to a million people living and working at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina drank water contaminated with toxic chemicals. The contamination went undetected until 1980 and largely unaddressed for years after that. It has since been linked to cancers, birth defects, and other serious illnesses, making it one of the largest drinking water contamination events in U.S. history.
What Was in the Water
Routine water sampling and well testing identified four primary contaminants in Camp Lejeune’s drinking water: trichloroethylene (TCE), a metal degreaser; tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a dry cleaning solvent; vinyl chloride, an industrial chemical; and benzene, a component of fuels. These are volatile organic compounds, meaning they evaporate easily and can be inhaled from shower steam and tap water in addition to being swallowed. All four are known or probable carcinogens.
The contamination affected two of the base’s main water treatment plants. At the Tarawa Terrace plant, the source was ABC One-Hour Cleaners, an off-base dry cleaning business whose solvents seeped into the groundwater feeding the base’s wells. At the Hadnot Point plant, the contamination came from multiple sources on the base itself, including leaking underground storage tanks and waste disposal sites. The population served by these systems included active-duty Marines, their spouses and children, and civilian employees. At any given time, roughly 43,000 service members, 52,000 dependents, and thousands of civilian workers had access to the base.
How the Contamination Was Discovered
The problem first surfaced in 1980 during a routine test for trihalomethanes, which are common byproducts of water treatment. Those results flagged the presence of other unexpected contaminants, including TCE, PCE, and additional volatile organic compounds. Despite this discovery, the most contaminated wells were not shut down until 1985, and the official exposure period recognized by the federal government runs from August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987.
The gap between discovery and action became a central grievance for affected families. For years after the chemicals were first detected, people continued drinking, cooking with, and bathing in contaminated water. Many learned about their exposure only decades later, long after health problems had already developed.
Health Effects Linked to the Contamination
Federal health agencies have identified a clear list of conditions with sufficient scientific evidence tying them to the specific chemicals in Camp Lejeune’s water. TCE exposure is linked to kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and cardiac defects in children born to exposed mothers. PCE is linked to bladder cancer. Benzene is linked to leukemias and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Vinyl chloride is linked to liver cancer.
The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes eight “presumptive conditions” for Camp Lejeune veterans, meaning the VA assumes these illnesses are connected to the water without requiring individual proof of causation:
- Adult leukemia
- Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
- Bladder cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Liver cancer
- Multiple myeloma
- Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
- Parkinson’s disease
Veterans diagnosed with any of these conditions who served at Camp Lejeune for at least 30 days during the exposure period qualify for VA health care and disability compensation. The 2012 Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act extended health care coverage to qualifying veterans for all medical needs (except dental), even for conditions not on the presumptive list.
The Camp Lejeune Justice Act
For decades, affected service members and their families had no legal path to compensation beyond VA benefits. North Carolina’s statute of limitations and a legal doctrine called the Feres doctrine, which shields the military from many lawsuits by service members, blocked their claims. That changed in August 2022, when Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act as part of the broader PACT Act. The law gave anyone exposed to the contaminated water for at least 30 days between 1953 and 1987 the right to file a lawsuit against the federal government.
To streamline the process, the Department of the Navy and Department of Justice created an Elective Option, a voluntary settlement offer that claimants could accept in lieu of going to trial. The settlement amounts are based on the severity of the illness and how long the person was exposed:
- Tier 1 injuries (most severe): $150,000 for 30 to 364 days of exposure, $300,000 for 1 to 5 years, and $450,000 for more than 5 years
- Tier 2 injuries: $100,000 for 30 to 364 days, $250,000 for 1 to 5 years, and $400,000 for more than 5 years
If the illness caused death, an additional $100,000 is offered, putting the maximum Elective Option payout at $550,000. Claimants who reject the offer retain the right to pursue their case in court for a potentially larger amount, though that process takes significantly longer.
Camp Lejeune’s Water Today
The base’s water system is no longer contaminated. Camp Lejeune now routinely tests its drinking water for more than 190 substances, well above federal requirements. As of 2025, the base voluntarily samples both raw groundwater and finished drinking water for volatile organic compounds, synthetic organic compounds, and per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), the group of persistent chemicals that have become a nationwide concern. May 2025 testing found no detectable levels of any regulated PFAS in the Hadnot Point water system. The base has also monitored for explosives-related compounds and perchlorate in finished water since 2004 and in raw groundwater since 2011.