Residents of Plymouth received a notice two weeks ago that the town’s drinking water contains levels of “forever chemicals” exceeding the state’s safe drinking water standard.
The notice affects about 200 people in the Plymouth Water District, where testing showed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, levels of 23.8 parts per trillion in the town well, above the state’s standard of 20 parts per trillion. The notice recommended that people use bottled or filtered water until the town can install a filtration system, which is planned for June, according to Plymouth Water District operator Norman Viger.
“It sounds like a lot, but you have to put it into perspective,” said Viger, whose home is also connected to town water. “It’s very, very, very small. It’s not like the water is going to turn bright green or anything.”
Viger likened the amount of PFAS in the water supply to filling a 24-foot deep swimming pool with water and dropping a ball half the size of a BB into the pool. He said the planned filtration system under development should cost less than $50,000, some of which he expects to be paid for by state drinking water funds.
Still, concern over PFAS and their possible health effects is rising nationwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new contaminant levels in drinking water that would decrease the maximum allowable PFAS amount from 20 parts per trillion to 4 parts per trillion. Once they become effective, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will likely review existing PFAS monitoring data and offer filter systems to additional households, a DEP spokesperson said earlier.
Drinking water with high PFAS levels has been linked to a greater risk of kidney and testicular cancer, decreased immune system response and pregnancy complications, though scientists still are researching the possible effects of PFAS in drinking water.
The drilled well near the Plymouth Water District is located off Route 7 near the EPA Superfund site at Hows Corner. The Superfund site, uncovered in 1998, had accepted more than 235,000 gallons of waste oil, solvents and other substances, and had contaminated home wells through fractured bedrock and affected more than 200 acres.
George West, now deceased, operated the Portland-Bangor Waste Oil Co. facility until 1980, according to the DEP, just before the implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act aimed at better regulating the disposal of hazardous waste and the cleanup of facilities similar to West’s. The list of parties responsible for the waste includes Bangor, Brewer, the Maine Department of Transportation, the University of Maine System and numerous car dealerships, tire companies, garages and other businesses.
Now, the town has to deal with the clean-up of PFAS chemicals. The state has required PFAS testing in public drinking water supplies since 2022. The first test of Plymouth’s water showed levels of 12.3 parts per trillion, under the state’s limit, Viger said. But by late 2023 that rose to 23.3 parts per trillion, and more recently to 23.8.
In particular, perfluorononanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluoroheptanoic acid, or PFHpA — two of the six PFAS chemicals for which the state tests — showed rising concentrations between 2022 and 2023. PFHpA rose to 5.5 parts per trillion in 2023, up from 3.5 in 2022. PFOA rose to 16.1 parts per trillion in 2023, up from 9.38 in 2022.
Viger said only a handful of residents called to see if they needed to do something, but there was no panic because the measures of PFAS are still low.
“I’m concerned, but I’m not going overboard about it,” he said. “I look at the quantity.”
It is not clear how the PFAS got into the water, although Viger said there are hay fields nearby that might have been treated with contaminated sludge. Spreading sludge on farms was a common practice until high PFAS levels were discovered in 2016 at a dairy farm in Arundel.
He said there is no documented evidence that sludge on nearby fields may have come from Soil Preparation Inc., a solid waste treatment facility on the other side of Plymouth Pond. It processed sludge that was spread on farm fields throughout the state.
But Plymouth residents are now worried that the Soil Prep site and homes near it might suffer from PFAS contamination, according to a recent Bangor Daily News investigation. Soil Prep also is named as a defendant in a 116-page lawsuit filed last March in Somerset County Superior Court alleging PFAS contamination in and near Fairfield.
Viger said there are about 65 connections to the water district well, with some homes having multiple hookups. Most of the rest of the residents have private wells and must take their own tests and precautions if PFAS levels are high.
The Penobscot County town’s 1,300 residents are reacting quickly to the environmental threats they are experiencing by doing what small-town Mainers are known for.
“The town fire department immediately raised money and bought a pallet of bottled water that residents could pick up at the fire station,” he said. “Poland Spring also donated a couple pallets last week.”
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN’s Maine Focus team. She may be reached at [email protected]. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.