— JACKSONVILLE AREA • PRIVATE WELLS • PFAS

The Navy is offering free PFAS testing for certain private wells near Jacksonville installations.

By Jose Linan · Published September 29, 2026

The outreach is targeted—not a citywide tap-water warning. Property owners inside designated sampling areas near Naval Station Mayport, Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Outlying Landing Field Whitehouse should check their notice and water source.

This is not a Jacksonville-wide contamination notice

The investigation focuses on private drinking-water wells within mapped areas near the three installations. The Navy says it does not need to sample homes served by JEA through this program. Its Mayport notice also excludes homes served by the City of Atlantic Beach.

A Jacksonville address alone does not establish eligibility, contamination or safety. The decisive facts are the property's water source, its location within the Navy's sampling area and its own laboratory result.

Why the Navy is testing

PFAS are a large group of persistent chemicals used in many products. At military installations, a major historical concern is aqueous film-forming foam used for firefighting and training. The Navy says PFAS were found in groundwater at OLF Whitehouse and established a sampling area extending in the direction groundwater flows from identified release locations.

At Whitehouse, the Navy is resampling some wells tested in 2019 and 2020 because laboratory methods have improved. Its published review says none of the 152 wells sampled during that earlier period were at or above the current Department of War interim action levels, although PFAS were detected below federal drinking-water levels in 31 wells. Current sampling is intended to update the record—not to declare every nearby well contaminated.

Who can request the Whitehouse sampling?

What happens if the Navy finds PFAS?

The Navy says property owners will receive their validated results and any needed follow-up. When results meet or exceed the military's applicable interim action levels, the Navy may work toward an enduring solution such as connection to public water or installation of a drinking-water treatment system. That is why an eligible homeowner should contact the Navy before paying a private company for equipment.

A laboratory detection and a policy action level are not interchangeable. The complete report should identify the individual PFAS compounds, concentrations and units. Treatment should be evaluated against those actual results.

Do not accept “carbon removes PFAS” as a complete treatment claim

EPA identifies granular activated carbon, ion-exchange resin and reverse osmosis as technologies that can reduce certain PFAS. But performance depends on the PFAS involved, water chemistry, flow, media quantity, contact time and maintenance. A standard taste-and-odor carbon tank is not automatically a verified PFAS solution.

For a homeowner-purchased drinking-water filter, EPA recommends checking for an independent PFAS-reduction certification under NSF/ANSI 53 or NSF/ANSI 58 and confirming the exact certified claim in the certification body's directory. Filters must be replaced on schedule. Certification also does not replace follow-up laboratory testing when a well has a confirmed result.

The bottom line

If you use public water, this report is not proof that your tap is affected. If you use a private well inside one of the Navy's mapped areas, take the free sampling opportunity seriously. Test first, keep the complete result and give the Navy the opportunity to provide its required response before spending money on treatment.

Read the Jacksonville public-water report →

Understand what a basic home water test cannot detect →