More than half a million people have sought compensation from the US military for damages caused by contaminated water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Reuters has revealed.

Dangerous chemicals were first discovered in the North Carolina facility’s water supply in 1982. According to the U.S. government, the contaminated water may have infected as many as a million people with conditions including kidney cancer, bladder cancer and leukemia between 1953 and 1987.

The U.S. Navy has received more than 546,500 claims for compensation, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a court filing. The number could rise or fall in “a few thousand” after the Navy reviews the claims to remove duplicates.

Administrative claims had to be filed by an Aug. 10 deadline to make plaintiffs eligible for compensation. The deadline was set by the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, signed into law exactly two years earlier.

The Navy said it was reviewing each claim and “is committed to resolving all valid CLJA claims as fairly and quickly as possible.”

So far, more than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed in federal court in North Carolina by plaintiffs whose claims have not been resolved administratively. The first trials could begin next year. Only about 150 cases had been resolved through administrative proceedings as of early August, the Navy said in the lawsuit.

If all the administrative claims go to trial, the Camp Lejeune water case would be the largest compensation claim since the 3M hearing protector scandal, Reuters noted.

The Minnesota-based company had made protective gear for the U.S. military that was widely used in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015, but left many troops complaining of hearing loss. Eventually, more than 390,000 filed lawsuits against 3M in what was described as “largest multidistrict litigation” in history. Last year, 3M paid $6.01 billion to settle the approximately 260,000 remaining claims.