California reps ask US for new water study at former base

By MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press Writer

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Two of California’s congressional representatives are asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to launch a health safety and drinking water investigation at Fort Ord on the Central Coast. The move follows an Associated Press investigation published this week about potential health impacts from exposure at the shuttered military base. California’s Fort Ord has been on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of the most polluted U.S. places since 1990. Dozens of chemicals, some that cause cancer, have been found in drinking water and soil. The Department of Veterans Affairs says the water has always been safe, but hundreds of sick veterans worry their health problems might be tied to toxic exposures there.