New research examines Holloman Lake PFAS contamination

A team of researchers from The University of New Mexico’s Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) has shared new research on the contamination at Holloman Lake in southern New Mexico. The team began studying PFAS contamination of wildlife at Holloman Lake in 2021.

In an article published in 2024, the team reported world-record concentrations of PFAS in birds and mammals at the lake. The article showed that contamination spanned a period of at least 30 years and was connected to the use of PFAS-containing aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) used by military installations. The new article, "Ecosystem-wide PFAS characterization and environmental behavior at a heavily contaminated desert oasis in the southwestern U.S.," published in the journal Environmental Research, confirms previous findings and analyzes all the factors contributing to the unprecedented levels of contamination at Holloman Lake.

“Holloman Lake itself – its surface water and sediments, its flora and fauna – is the known epicenter of the massive PFAS contamination we have been studying since 2021, but we do not yet know the boundaries of the affected area," said Research Professor Jean-Luc Cartron, UNM Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology and lead author of the new report. "Much of the playa environment downstream of Holloman could be contaminated, and, even more important, the movements of animals and animal populations around the landscape are essential factors to consider. Contaminated animals may travel far from Holloman and contaminate other ecosystems or pose a risk to hunters.”

This new research expanded on earlier published research to examine PFAS contamination in waters of the lake, soils, plants, algae, fish, reptiles, and various species of birds and mammals.

The highlights of the new research are:

• All the samples collected at Holloman Lake, whether water, soils, plants, algae, or animal tissues had very high PFAS concentrations (up to 120,000 ng/g in the liver of a kangaroo rat), up to 10,000 times or more the EPA’s drinking water standards
• One plant composite sample had the highest PFAS concentrations recorded anywhere to date
• Lake waters also appear to hold the highest PFAS concentrations recorded anywhere
• Contamination is not limited to the lake itself. The scientists ruled out air transport as being an important mechanism and instead link high soil concentrations to past inundation events (where for example wastewater used to be stored)
• They were able to find some of the same patterns reported during controlled lab studies and linking the length of the PFAS molecules (and the number of fluorinate carbons) to their ability to transport out of the water, with salt and clay minerals also playing an important role.

Due to the extraordinarily high levels of PFAS contamination, together with the local abundance of wildlife and the complex hydrogeological setting including gypsum deposits), Holloman Lake can serve as a natural laboratory for studying and learning more about PFAS environmental behavior including transport, fate and bioaccumulation.

“The prolonged and severe PFAS contamination at Holloman Lake presents an important natural experiment to investigate how legacy and emerging PFAS compounds are distributed and transported through an ecosystem—shedding light on exposure risks to wildlife and humans,” said co-author of the article and and new Ph.D. graduate Chauncey R. Gadek, Division of Birds, Museum of Southwestern Biology.

Holloman Lake is a wastewater lake located in a publicly accessible area of Holloman AFB in Otero County west of Alamogordo, N.M. It is home to thousands of waterfowls and shorebirds, the reason why it was designated as an Important Bird Area by the Audubon Society in 2002. It also harbors an abundance of other birds and small mammals.

“Our planet is undergoing rapid change on multiple fronts, and we now live in an era of global contamination,” said Distinguished and Regents’ Professor Joseph A. Cook, curator, Division of Mammals, Museum of Southwestern Biology, who co-authored the article. “The pervasive PFAS contamination found throughout the Holloman Lake ecosystem points to the dire need for more intensive holistic monitoring of New Mexico's environments on a regular basis."

One concern of the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), an agency that assisted with funding the MSB, was the contamination of the regional aquifer and water wells, another the health risks to local duck hunters. Hunting was permitted at Holloman Lake until last year and the publication of the initial research.

The scientists have also observed a herd of oryx visiting Holloman Lake on a regular basis. Oryx can be hunted in New Mexico and thus there is the possibility for hunters to ingest contaminated meat. The scientists are now working in collaboration with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to evaluate that risk.

However, the most contaminated soil sample was downstream of the lake, not at the lake itself. Historical imagery indicates that water from the lake at times flowed past the dam and into the network of playas extending to the southwest in the direction of Lake Lucero on White Sands National Park. One of the big questions is how contaminated are the playas in the area? Playas can be important habitat for migratory birds during and after rain events.

Additionally, Cartron found a dead baby bird (a killdeer chick) right by its nest on the ground near the lake. It was sent to the lab for testing, and its tissues had the highest PFAS concentration recorded to date in a bird.

“We are worried about the possibility of toxicity on reproduction and development in local birds, some of them sensitive species like the snowy plover,” added Cartron. “Contamination by PFAS could also be trans generational, with contamination affecting not just animals living at or visiting Holloman Lake, but also future generations.”

The scientists are also concerned about the possibility of migratory birds becoming heavily contaminated at Holloman Lake and then migrating to other wetlands around the state (and beyond), where hunters may also become contaminated. UNM Biology Professor Chris Witt is spearheading that effort to identify the level of risk statewide, with assistance from hunters around the state.

For more information on the MSB, visit the Museum of Southwestern Biology.

Related story: Forever chemicals reach extraordinary levels in wildlife at Holloman Air Force Base