DoD Must Test for PFAS Quarterly in Stormwater Runoff, Allocating 1% of Cleanup Funds to Testing

If you live near a military base, you’re probably familiar with the ongoing concerns about PFAS, the “forever chemicals,” contaminating local water sources. The Department of Defense PFAS Discharge Prevention Act is a straightforward piece of legislation aimed at forcing the Department of Defense (DoD) to get serious about one specific source of this contamination: the stormwater runoff leaving their facilities.

The Mandate: No More Guessing Games

This bill cuts straight to the chase. Within one year of this law passing, the Secretary of Defense must formally request that the state or EPA (whoever manages the facility’s water permits) change the existing stormwater discharge permits for every single DoD facility. These changes have two major requirements. First, every facility must start testing its stormwater runoff for PFAS at least every three months (quarterly). Second, the facility must implement the “right best management practices” or control technologies necessary to cut down on those PFAS discharges, ensuring they comply with the Clean Water Act. This means the DoD can’t just wait for a problem to be found; they have to start looking for it constantly and then fix it.

The Real-World Check: Funding the Fix

One of the biggest hurdles in environmental cleanup is often funding the basic monitoring. This bill tackles that by creating a dedicated funding stream for testing. It mandates that at least 1% of all the money authorized or made available for PFAS cleanup efforts each fiscal year must be spent specifically on this new quarterly stormwater testing. For communities living downstream, this is a huge deal. It means the monitoring isn't an optional expense that gets cut when budgets tighten; it’s baked into the cleanup budget itself. If you're a farmer whose irrigation water comes from a stream near a base, or a homeowner relying on groundwater, this required testing provides the data needed to understand the true scope of the contamination.

The Fine Print: What Needs Watching

While this bill is a clear win for transparency and accountability, there is one area to keep an eye on. The bill requires the DoD to implement the “right best management practices” to reduce the discharge. That word—right—is a bit vague. It gives the DoD some discretion in deciding how they reduce the pollution, which could potentially lead to less aggressive cleanup measures if they interpret “right” as “cheapest” or “easiest.” However, the requirement to conduct quarterly testing provides the necessary data to hold them accountable if those management practices aren't actually reducing the PFAS levels over time. Ultimately, this act forces the DoD to move from reactive cleanup to proactive, mandatory monitoring and pollution control.