More than 546,500 lawsuits have been filed with the U.S. Navy seeking compensation for damage caused by toxic water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Reuters This was reported on Wednesday, citing a court document.

Toxic chemicals were first discovered in the water at the North Carolina base in 1982. As a result of the contamination, about one million people developed kidney and bladder cancer and leukemia between 1953 and 1987.

Plaintiffs are eligible for compensation if they file their administrative claims by August 10, a deadline established by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which was signed into law two years ago.

The half-million number of claims is expected to either increase or decrease by “several thousand” after the Navy removed duplicate claims and reiterated its commitment to “resolving every valid CLJA claim as fairly and expeditiously as possible.”

More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed in federal court in North Carolina by plaintiffs whose claims have not been resolved administratively. However, the first trials may not begin until next year because only about 150 cases had been resolved through the administrative process as of early August, the Navy said in the complaint.

If all administrative claims go to trial, the Camp Lejeune waterfall could represent the largest damages lawsuit since the 3M earplug scandal, which has been described as the “largest class action lawsuit” in history. Reuters reported.

3M agrees to $10.3 billion settlement after water pollution lawsuit

In June of last year, the multinational conglomerate 3M reached a $10.3 billion settlement agreement to settle a class action lawsuit brought by American cities and municipalities whose water was contaminated by the release of chemicals from one of the company’s production facilities.

The settlement in the case of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which contaminated the region’s drinking water, is to be paid over a period of 13 years.

Pollutants known as “permanent chemicals” do not break down in the environment but accumulate in the body.

3M did not admit liability in the case at the time, but promised to stop using “forever chemicals” by the end of 2025 after the company was embroiled in multiple investigations and thousands of lawsuits, including one from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The company added that it would “provide funding to public water utilities across the country that have detected PFAS in their drinking water, as well as to eligible public water utilities that may detect PFAS at any concentration in the future.”

Mike Roman, 3M’s chairman and CEO, called the agreement “an important step forward” that underscores the company’s commitment to “cease all PFAS production.”