Camp Lejeune Water Contamination

The United States Marine Corps established the Camp Lejeune Base in North Carolina in 1942. Between 1953 and 1987, people who lived or worked at the base were exposed to contaminated water.

In the early 1980s, the Marine Corps discovered that two of the eight water treatment plants on the base contained contaminated water. Water from the Tarawa Terrace water plant was primarily contaminated by PCE (perchloroethylene or tetrachloroethylene). People living and working on or near the base were thus exposed to the contaminated water and eventually began showing symptoms of illnesses and diseases.

Studies show that the contaminants that were found in the Camp Lejeune water can raise the risk of cancers and many other serious health problems.

Some of the health conditions that have been associated with the contaminated water at Camp Lejeune include:

• Bladder Cancer
• Kidney Cancer
• Kidney/Renal Disease
• Kidney/Renal Failure
• Leukemia
• Liver Cancer
• Multiple Myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Scleroderma
• Systemic Sclerosis

Some of the key events of the Camp Lejeune contamination and subsequent lawsuits include:

• 1980s – Marine Corps began testing the water and discovered the contamination.
• 1999 – The USMC began notifying former base residents that they may have been exposed to contaminated drinking water.
• July 2009 – A former resident of Camp Lejeune, Laura Jones, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the contaminated water.
• March 2010 – The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) determined that a veteran’s cancer was caused by his exposure to the contaminated water and awarded him 100% disability benefits.
• January 2011 – A retired marine, Joel Shriberg, filed a suit against the U.S. government, claiming that Camp Lejeune’s contaminated water caused his cancer.
• 2011 – Ten Camp Lejeune lawsuits were consolidated in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia.
• August 2012 – The Janey Ensminger Act, part of the Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, becomes law, authorizing medical care to military and family members who resided at Camp Lejeune between 1957 and 1987 and who developed conditions linked to water contamination.
• March 2021 – The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2021 was introduced to Congress. This bill allows the service members, families, and civilian workers who drank and bathed in toxic water in Camp Lejeune (for at least 30 days from August 1953 to December 1987) to file a claim and bring a lawsuit to present evidence that their health issues or a loved one’s death may be linked to their exposure.
• March 2022 – The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2021 was passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate as part of H.R. 3967.
• August 10, 2022 – President Biden signed the “Honoring Our PACT Act” which included the The Camp Lejeune Justice Act of 2021, which allows for those affected by Camp Lejeune’s water contaimnination to seek resitution under the law for their injuries.