By Karen Pearlman with additional reporting by Miriam Raftery
Jan. 14, 2026 (Warner Springs) -- Dozens of local residents and business owners visited the CAL Fire Station in Warner Springs on Jan. 12 to glean information from the United States Navy and several other federal groups as well as state and county water agencies about PFAS and their impact on the waterways in the region.
The U.S. Navy announced late last year that PFAS were detected in groundwater in Warner Springs, with contamination believed to be linked to a former landfill, wastewater treatment site and spray aeration field at the Navy’s Remote Training Site in Warner Springs,at 34567 State Route 79. The Navy most recently sampled the groundwater in 2024 and is now offering testing of wells for residents in approximately a one-mile radius near the site.
The site reportedly was used by the Navy as a Survival Invasion Resistance Escape School, using what they learned from Vietnam era prisoners of war. There, pilots are taught thow to survive if you crash or must eject, how to navigate, not be found, or if found how to resist interrogation.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are "forever chemicals" that have been found in water as far away as the Arctic Ocean and as near as the Sweetwater Reservoir locally, as well as in Warner Springs.
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