Residents of Ginowan city reported white foam flowing Jan. 29, 2026, from this manhole cover near Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, as seen on Jan. 30, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A city in central Okinawa found levels of “forever chemicals” well below Japan’s legal limit in water sampled from a manhole oozing white foam near a Marine Corps airfield last month.
Ginowan city’s Sewage System and Facilities Division found PFAS levels at 6 parts per trillion in a water sample collected from the manhole on Jan. 29, the same day residents noticed the foam, the city announced Monday on its website.
Japan’s legal limit for PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, is 50 parts per trillion.
The manhole in the Isa district near Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is part of the city’s sewage system, which collects water from the base and homes in the area.
The city will conduct no further action, a division spokesman said by phone Tuesday. Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press on condition of anonymity.
The sewage division sent workers to collect water samples Jan. 29, a spokesman told Stars and Stripes at the time.
A local civic group, Committee for Protecting Citizens’ Lives from PFAS Contamination, announced Feb. 5 that it sampled the foam and found PFAS levels of 268 parts per trillion. Kouji Harada, a professor of food hygiene and environmental health at Kyoto Prefectural University, conducted the test, group spokesman Toshio Takahashi said by phone Tuesday.
Takahashi said he believes the city took its sample from a different location. The division spokesman refuted this, saying the city took water samples from the manhole but did not sample the foam.
PFAS and its components PFOS and PFOA, called “forever chemicals” by the Environmental Protection Agency because they persist in the environment and the human body, were used in aqueous film-forming foam, a fire suppressant used by U.S. and Japanese forces. U.S. Forces Japan last year said it had incinerated its last stockpiles of the foam.
Marine Corps environmental personnel found “no releases or scheduled training” that day after checking with all units and firefighting equipment, Marine Corps Installations Pacific told Stars and Stripes at the time.
Installations command spokesman Wesley Hayes in an email Tuesday referred questions to the city and civic group.
In October and November 2022, foam rose from manholes connected to the same sewage system. Tests found PFOS and PFOA levels at 21 parts per trillion in the October incident and 11 parts per trillion in the November incident.
AloJapan.com