Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart told the Press March 25 that tests on Harvard’s municipal public water supply showed no detectable PFAS, the toxic substances recently reported in four smaller public water supplies and two private wells in the area of Ayer Road between Route 2 and the Ayer town line.
PFAS stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of synthetic chemicals. One product that contains PFAS is firefighting foam made prior to 2003. Last year the Army designated a former firefighting exercise area on Barnum Road in Devens, about a half mile northwest of the Appleworks building, as a study area because of the firefighting foam that was used there. Because of the area’s proximity to Harvard, Army contractors sampled public and private wells here last summer within a mile of the firefighting site. Six wells tested positive, but the PFAS levels in those wells were all below federal and state guidelines.
The testing came to light when the Boston Globe published a story March 6 citing Harvard as one of seven Massachusetts municipalities with PFAS in its drinking water. While the two wells that provide drinking water for town center were not part of the Army tests and are located far from the study area, the town decided to test them for PFAS to put residents’ minds at ease.
Kilhart said personnel from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) collected the samples from well #2 and well #5, both on Pond Road, as well as from a sample faucet at the water tank on Bolton Road that holds water blended from both wells. The samples were sent to MassDEP’s laboratory in Lawrence to be tested for the same six PFAS for which the state requires all new public drinking water sources to be tested. None of the six chemicals was detected in the town water sample.
Kilhart said MassDEP dictates the substances the town needs to test for in its drinking water and how often, and PFAS are not yet on that list. If either MassDEP or the Environmental Protection Agency sets a maximum contaminant level for PFAS in drinking water, a process that both agencies have initiated, testing for PFAS may be required. Currently, only state and federal health advisory guidelines exist for the substances.
