Testing Programs
PFAS Blood Testing
The New Mexico Environment Department and New Mexico Department of Health offered 1,000 people who have lived and worked near Cannon Air Force Base free PFAS blood testing in the Fall of 2024 to better understand the public health impacts brought on by the Air Force’s contamination of the nearby Ogallala Aquifer.
The program found that over 99% of participants has PFAS associated with military firefighting foams in the blood, showing a significant correlation between Cannon AFB’s toxic PFAS plume and health impacts on those living near it. Individual results were completely anonymous and only given to participants.
- Final PFAS Blood Testing Project Report
- Department of Health fact sheet on how to manage your PFAS exposure
- PFAS Blood Testing Postcard
- Blood Testing Results Department of Health Letter
PFAS Well Water Testing
The New Mexico Environment Department in Fall 2024 offered free well water testing in the area around Cannon Air Force Base in order to help residents fully grasp the contamination levels, or lack thereof, in the water they used for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.
- PFAS Water Testing Round 1&2 sent on March 1, 2025
- PFAS Waster Testing Below Risk Levels of Concern letters sent on April 2, 2025
- PFAS Water Testing Round 3 letters sent on April 8, 2025 to those with certain PFAS detected above the Risk Levels of Concern (RLOC)
PFAS and New Mexico’s Drinking Water Systems
NMED has taken proactive steps to begin evaluating PFAS impacts to public water supplies in New Mexico. As part of our efforts to protect communities PFAS in public drinking water, NMED, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sampled drinking water supplies across the state. This sampling effort, which started in 2020 and continues today, has focused on multiple ground and surface water supplies across New Mexico.
Results from nearly 80 public water systems, as well as multiple surface water sampling locations, are available here.
Additionally, New Mexico public water systems are currently sampling for PFAS under the federal Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule.