Officials say Amarillo will not be affected by recent reports of groundwater contamination linked to Cannon Air Force Base—despite the fact that the Clovis, New Mexico, air base is less than 100 miles away from the city.
As The Amarillo Globe-News reports, state and federal officials say groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer has been contaminated by firefighting chemicals from the air base.
The contaminated groundwater is known to have high levels of perfluorinated compounds, a likely human carcinogen shown to cause liver, pancreatic, testicular, and mammary gland tumors in laboratory animals.
But an official with Amarillo’s water department told the Globe-News that the Ogallala wells Amarillo gets its water from are far removed from the contaminated wells.
Amarillo’s water department operates 136 supply wells in Carson, Potter, Randall and Deaf Smith Counties.
