Camp Lejeune Water Contamination: The VA's Presumptive Rules

Between the 1950s and 1980s, drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River in North Carolina was contaminated with industrial solvents. The VA now presumes service connection for a specific list of conditions in veterans who served there.

This guide covers what the VA publishes about that presumption. For the general framework, see our presumptive conditions overview.

Who qualifies

The VA's Camp Lejeune page sets the requirement at 30 cumulative days of service at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987. Active duty service members, reservists, and National Guard members are all covered.

The presumed conditions

The VA presumes service connection for these eight conditions:

• Adult leukemia
• Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes
• Bladder cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Liver cancer
• Multiple myeloma
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
• Parkinson's disease

Conditions not on the list

The VA also provides health care for a longer list of conditions tied to Camp Lejeune, which is not the same as disability compensation. A condition outside the presumptive list can still be claimed on a direct basis under 38 CFR 3.303, where the medical evidence in the file carries the claim - see our guide on when a presumptive claim still needs medical evidence.

How the presumption was created

The Camp Lejeune presumption was added through the Honoring our PACT Act, which directed the VA to presume service connection for the listed diseases in veterans, reservists, and National Guard members who meet the service requirement. The VA's PACT Act page covers this presumption alongside the other exposure-based presumptions the law created.

Before this change, a veteran with a Camp Lejeune-related condition generally had to establish a direct link between the water contamination and the disease using medical evidence. The presumption removed that step for the eight listed conditions, so those claims now depend mainly on documenting the qualifying service dates and the current diagnosis.

Documenting service at Camp Lejeune

Because the presumption turns on a specific 30-day service requirement at a specific location and time period, service records - orders, personnel records, or unit history showing time stationed at Camp Lejeune or MCAS New River between August 1, 1953 and December 31, 1987 - are central to the claim. The VA's Camp Lejeune page describes how the VA verifies this service during claims processing.

Veterans who are unsure whether their service dates or duty stations meet the requirement can request their service records through the National Archives or through the VA, since incomplete service records are one of the more common reasons a presumptive Camp Lejeune claim is delayed rather than denied outright.

Filing the claim

A Camp Lejeune presumptive claim is filed the same way as any other disability claim, through VA.gov or with the help of an accredited representative, and requires the veteran's current diagnosis of one of the eight listed conditions along with evidence of the qualifying service. The VA's evidence needed guidance describes the records that support any disability claim, including medical records showing the current diagnosis.

This guide is educational. It summarizes the VA's own published rules and links to the exact sources it relies on. It is not legal or claims advice, and it is not a substitute for an accredited representative, who can advise you about your specific claim. Accredited help is free - search the VA's accreditation database to find a Veterans Service Organization, accredited agent, or attorney.