Wilkinsonville Water District
Office hours are Monday through Thursday, 8:00 AM - 3:00 pm
Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of each Month at 7:00 pm. Anyone can attend, all Wilkinsonville Water District residents are invited to attend and speak without exception.
Annual meeting is held on the third Saturday in May. Anyone can attend, all Wilkinsonville Water District residents are invited to attend and speak without exception..
In the case of an emergency, call the district office at 508-865-0060. If it is after normal business hours, you will be directed to contact the Whitinsville Water Company at 508-234-7358. When calling Whitinsville Water Company, identify yourself as a Wilkinsonville Water District customer.
13 Providence Road PO Box 173 Sutton MA 01590
508-865-0060
FAX (508) 865-5993
PFAS
by Wilkinsonville Water District | June 10, 2021
You may have been reading in the media stories about “forever chemicals” in the environment. These stories refer to a category of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and there are thousands of different types. They have been in mass production in the country for over 60 years and are completely ubiquitous throughout the environment, meaning you will find them everywhere from water, grass, food, to clothing, carpeting, consumer care products, dust, and they are already in everyone’s bloodstream. Typically, the main source of ingestion of these chemicals is from consumer products and food, which have not been regulated to date. The only thing that is currently starting to be regulated is drinking water. The Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) develops drinking water standards for all contaminants and is currently working on standards for this category of chemicals. EPA currently has a Health Advisory of 70 parts per trillion for PFAS. Some states went ahead and have already developed standards on their own (without EPA), which has lead to much confusion as there are different standards for different states. These standards were largely set in haste with little stakeholder input. MA is one of the states that developed their own standard, without using the same standard development process that the EPA uses. As result, the standards set for drinking water in MA were set so conservatively low, that the levels are down to the lowest level that technology can test to. With detection levels of 5-10 parts per trillion (as low as technology can go) and maximum allowable levels of 20 parts per trillion (for six different type of PFAS), the levels are so low that they are approaching background levels found in the environment. Additionally, laboratories are having a difficult time meeting quality control standards testing down to these levels. State Regulations were published early this year and larger water systems were required to start testing in April 2021. As expected, there was confusion with sample results and many lab reports were rejected due to quality control issues. Our company is scheduled to test in October 2021. We have no reason to believe these chemicals will be found in our sources as they are well protected. But the uncertainty of such low standards has created many concerns about the reliability of results. Most contaminants tested in drinking water are in parts per million, some more recent contaminants have even been in parts per billion, but this new standard of parts per trillion is new territory for the industry (one part per trillion is equal to one second in 32,000 years). When sampling, our collector cannot wear certain types of clothing, or have used certain types of shampoo, or deodorant, or other personal care products in the past 48 hours or it may cause a positive test. So we will need to hire a professional firm to simply collect the samples. From a common sense stand point, this seems quite irrational because you are likely consuming far higher levels of these chemicals in your food from your local grocery store, but this goes unregulated. All the while, the state has set extremely low standards for public water systems. And there are no current standards for bottled water in MA. So there is no guarantee your bottled water is any safer. Additionally, the maximum allowable level of 20 parts per trillion is set ONLY for pregnant or nursing women, infants, and people diagnosed by their health care provider to have a compromised immune system. So this standard is NOT for the general public. This again is a first for the industry as all prior regulated contaminants were based on the health of the general public and not just a small sub group of the general public. To date, there is no standard for the general public as there is insufficient data to set a standard. As noted above, EPA has a Health Advisory of 70 parts per trillion. Some home treatment systems are certified to treat to this level. We are not aware of any home treatment units that are certified to treat down to the state standard of 20 parts per trillion. As you can see, this is a very complex and confusing issue that has unfortunately been rushed through due to media and political pressures, which has resulted in untested standards that now must be met. We anticipate there will be many millions of dollars spent just in Massachusetts to treat drinking water down to these untested standards. These costs will be mostly born by the rate payers of the effected communities as the state is not providing sufficient funding for the treatment required in all effected communities. All the while, these chemicals continue to be used in various industries in the state without restriction.
For more information regarding PFAS, please visit: https://www.safewatermass.org/
Other fact sheets, data, and studies:
MA DPH Fact Sheet 2019
CASA PFAS Fact Sheet
Wisconsin Department of Health Services PFAS information
Study: PFAS Contamination Of Breast Milk Is ‘Universal’ (wateronline.com)
Study: PFAS Found in Rain at Levels up to 400 PPT
BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS
Russell Sylvia, Chairperson
Jeanne MacDonald, Commissioner
David Chase, Commissioner
OTHER OFFICIALS
Shelley Gorman, Treasurer, Clerk/Secretary
Stage II Water Ban in Effect
ODD/Even 7:00 pm - 7:00 am