Source: PhillyBurbs.com
Hundreds of public water suppliers have wells containing toxic “forever chemicals” at levels over regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency in April.
Recent testing data by the EPA released earlier this month show at least 40 water suppliers across Pennsylvania have tested at or above the agencies limits for a family of thousands of compounds typically referred to under the umbrella term PFAS.
In April, the EPA set a Maximum Contaminant Level for two of the most common compounds, PFOA and PFOS, at 4 parts per trillion. Three other PFAS compounds — PFNA, PFHxS, and Gen X chemicals — each of an MCL of 10 ppt.
Two wells in the Upper Southampton Municipal Authority system tested between 3.2 to 4.1 times the 4 ppt MCL for PFOA and PFOS in test results taken on July 21 and Jan. 23 last year.
The Newtown Artesian Water Company also tested about 2 to 3 times over the MCL for PFOA and PFOS when samples were collected in January.
Newtown Artesian CEO Dan Angrove told this news organization Friday that the company received all its necessary approvals in April to build an additional treatment building to reduce the PFAS chemicals in its water supply. Read “#NewtownPA Artesian Water Company Plans a Filtration Facility to Remove PFAS from Drinking Water”.
Currently in the design phase, the building should see construction through 2025 with an "in service target date" set for March 2026, Angrove said. The new filtration systems should bring PFAS levels down to non-detect once completed.