[F]ive private wells in North Bennington have tested positive for detectable levels of a carcinogenic chemical. Three of the wells are at residences, one is at the municipal wastewater treatment plant, and another is at a landscaping business.
The Shumlin administration said it had the wells tested two weeks ago, shortly after two state senators raised concerns about contamination of water supplies in Hoosick Falls, New York, by the same chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA.
The state also tested the municipal water supply in North Bennington. The water has not been tainted by PFOA, according to state officials.
The state of New York has linked the contamination of the village water supply in Hoosick Falls to a manufacturing plant in town owned by Saint-Gobain, a global company that manufactures ChemFab “engineered materials,” including heat-resistant products and nonstick coatings, such as Teflon.
Saint-Gobain operated a plant that manufactured Teflon and other materials in North Bennington until it was shut down in 2002. The plant was in operation for 30 years.
Gov. Peter Shumlin, in a hastily arranged news conference that was called 13 minutes in advance Thursday morning, said he wanted to tell the press and the public as soon as possible about the test results and the steps the state is taking to help North Bennington residents.
“We just figured this out several hours ago, and we wanted the public to know what we’re doing,” he said.
“As some of you probably recall, there have been reports from New York about the ChemFab factory there, that they’ve done some testing and there was contamination in the water supply,” Shumlin said.
The governor said the state took action in mid-February after Bennington County Sens. Dick Sears and Brian Campion raised concerns about press reports regarding the Hoosick Falls contamination, which was first reported by the Times Union, of Albany. The EPA warned residents Dec. 17 not to consume village water.
Shumlin emphasized — and Alyssa Schuren, the commissioner of environmental conservation, reiterated — that state officials took immediate action. Samples were sent to out-of-state labs two weeks ago, and the results were available Thursday morning.
“This is obviously a concern. We are moving as quickly as we can,” Schuren said. “We’ve acted really quickly. We just got the results a few hours ago.”
The state has notified the homeowners with contaminated wells and is supplying the residents with clean water. State officials would not say how many individuals could have been exposed to the chemical.
State officials plan to take soil samples and water samples from additional private wells in the area to determine the range of contamination. They also plan to test the Hoosic River, which is a popular fishing stream.
The test results from the five wells that were already sampled show contamination levels ranging between 40 parts per trillion and 2,880 parts per trillion. While the concentrations are minuscule, they exceed the acceptable health standard level of 20 parts per trillion, according to Chuck Schwer, of the Department of Environmental Conservation.
“The number seems high, but it’s parts per trillion,” Schwer said. “That doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s still above health standards and it’s still of serious concern to us.”
The chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, would likely have been emitted from a smokestack at the ChemFab plant and would have been been deposited with water vapor near the factory, officials said.
The compound dissolves quickly and can travel through soil and enter water supplies. DEC will work to determine the range of the contamination based on the “atmospheric deposition patterns,” Schuren said.
PFOA has been linked to thyroid diseases and kidney and testicular cancer.
The water can be treated with carbon filtration.
Sen. Campion sent emails to the state alerting officials about the contamination in Hoosick Falls. “I’m concerned this could be the tip of a deeper problem,” Campion said. “I’m grateful to have the information now, but I feel for those families being affected by this.”
Shumlin said the state will be “looking for who the responsible party is.”
“We think it’s the same responsible party as in New York, and we have reached out to the ChemFab company,” the governor said. “Once we work our way through the immediate crisis management, we will be digging into who created this problem and how can they help us pay for it.”
