PORTLAND (WGME) — This week, the Department of Environmental Protection will be going door to door in Brunswick, discussing sampling water from people’s wells after a toxic firefighting foam spill last month.
Surface water test results by the Maine DEP show PFAS concentrations in and around Harpswell Cove are decreasing and moving through the drainage system.
The firefighting foam containing PFAS was released during a malfunction at Brunswick Executive Airport almost three weeks ago.
PFAS levels are increasing in areas where foam removal efforts have been ongoing.
“In the beginning, I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal,” Shanna Riser, who lives a mile from where the firefighting foam was accidentally released, said.
Riser drinks only bottled water to be safe.
For me, I think a lot of this comes down to the future of my son. A lot of these things can cause issues with his health down the road,” she said.
The DEP will be visiting at least 45 homes in the area this week to discuss testing options. If someone is not home, they will leave contact information for follow-up.
The properties are all along Coombs Road, from the intersection of Gurnet Road, up to an area around Hawkins Lane, and on Purinton Road.
“It’s definitely going to give me peace of mind,” Riser said.
“We’re sort of stuck in a ‘wait and see.’ There’s really nothing proactive we can do besides testing,” Bruce McIlvine, another Brunswick resident, said.
McIlvine says he already only uses the water for things like showering or cleaning up, not drinking or cooking.
He says previous testing showed some levels of PFAS in his wells.
“I’m hopeful that they’re addressing the matter. It will be interesting to see what the follow through is and what recourse that would give us if, in fact, something does show up in our ground water,” McIlvine said.
Most of the foam is gone, though one area still producing foam does not require daily cleanup.
The DEP says if the water system exceeds the current interim drinking water standard, DEP would take the lead in installing filtration systems at residences in the previously specified area that is affected by the recent AFFF spill.
They say in the coming days, water affected from the spill will be taken offsite in 5,000 gallon increments to be incinerated at a site in Texas.
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Publish date : 2024-09-10 09:13:00
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