RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A federal judge has denied a government motion to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the government knowingly exposed hundreds of thousands of North Carolina-based Marines to contaminated drinking water.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle's decision released on Wednesday said that 45-year-old Laura Jones of Glenwood, Iowa, filed her lawsuit on time and that the court has jurisdiction.

Jones, who has non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, lived at Camp Lejeune with her Marine husband from 1980 until May 1983. Her 14-page complaint, filed along with numerous supporting documents, said Jones can't work as a nurse because of pain.

Attorneys for Jones said the chemicals in the water at Camp Lejeune caused numerous health problems including cancers, reproductive disorders and birth defects. Health officials think as many as 1 million people may have been exposed.