Laundry Mats & Steam Cleaning Report

Description

On-base laundry facilities and steam presses were largely operated by civilian workers, who are also eligible for compensation under the Camp Lejeune Act. These civilians spent eight hours a day working at steam presses, inhaling contaminated steam. Additionally, the clothes they steamed became contaminated. This issue is distinct from the ABC cleaners off base, which dumped cleaning chemicals into the sewers, contaminating the aquifers and subsequently the Camp Lejeune water system.

Camp Lejeune had the largest laundry facilities of any base in the country, using vast amounts of water and steam. This report provides an in-depth analysis of these facilities, demonstrating how even efforts to keep uniforms pressed led to exposure to contamination, resulting in illness both from the steam and the people wearing the clothes that were now impregnated with the chemicals that became dried and easily airborne by the movement of the clothes when the marines wore them.   It takes only common sense to figure this out.    All reports get into the volumes of water used and the massive amount of soldiers who use these facilities.