The Maine Department of Environmental Protection plans to test the water of at least 45 Brunswick homes following the accidental release of 1,450 gallons of firefighting foam containing toxic PFAS chemicals into a hangar and the surrounding environment.
Maine DEP officials will be making visits next week to homes along Coombs Road from the southern intersection with Gurnet Road up to roughly a quarter mile past the intersection with Hawkins Lane, as well as onHawkins Lane and Purinton Road.
The public drinking water supply to Brunswick Landing comes from the Brunswick-Topsham Water District, and is safe to drink.
The Maine CDC has issued guidance urging people to avoid swimming, wading, boating and eating fish from several bodies of water near the spill site. They include Mere Brook (also referred to as Mare Brook), Merriconeag Stream, Picnic Pond, Site 8 Stream and ponds a, b and c.
Continued testing at Harpswell Cove shows that PFAS concentrations had significantly decreased in test samples taken a day after, three days after and then a week after the foam spill.
PFAS concentration levels have increased in areas where cleanup is underway, as well as in the salt marsh above Harpswell Cove. Officials believe that residual PFAS contamination is moving out of the water system slowly due to tide flow.
Testing to monitor PFAS levels in the waterways immediate to the spill location will continue, with new data available within the next week.
Kristine Logan, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, which is the quasi-governmental organization in charge of Brunswick Landing, said the foam was accidentally released from the fire suppression system because of a faulty message in the system.
