[B]ENNINGTON — Water line construction to bypass widespread PFOA contamination of private wells has begun in Bennington and North Bennington.
The Agency of Natural Resources said Thursday it no longer intends to
deposit PFOA-contaminated soils from the project along the Route 279 right of way, describing that option as “a last resort.”
According to a news release, the state Department of Environmental Conservation seeks “to address concerns about soil generated throughout the construction process.”
The top priority “will be to put as much soil back into the water line trenches as possible, and every effort will be made to keep soils as close as possible to where they were generated,” the release stated. The next option will be to put the soil in the public right of way next to the water line. If more space is still needed, approved private landowner locations will be used, the department said.
Those locations “meet human health and environmental standards, including limited erosion potential, situated away from wetlands, rivers or floodplains, already contain PFOA in the soil, and will be connected to municipal water.”
The Vermont Route 279 right-of-way location “will only be used as a last resort, should the property receive approval for this activity,” the release states.
Approvals is needed from the state and from the Federal Highway Administration, since the road was constructed with federal funding.
Water service will be extended to about 200 properties with wells contaminated or threatened by perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in the area around former ChemFab Corp. factories. Funding comes from a settlement between the state and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics to provide $20 million for the work.
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics is a former owner of the local ChemFab operation.
The properties getting municipal water are in one section of the state’s designated contamination zone. The Agency of Natural Resources is negotiating with Saint-Gobain concerning PFOA contamination in another section, and state officials believe a similar agreement could be concluded early next year, following further environmental testing of water and soils.
The town of Bennington’s water line extension will be 10 miles in length and serve about 155 properties in the northwest portion of the town. The village of North Bennington’s water line extension will run 4 miles and serve about 55 individual property connections.
The construction contractors will continue to work as long as weather permits and will be focused on laying distribution piping, the release states.
Although some customers may be connected to the new lines this year, most homes and businesses covered under the settlement with Saint-Gobain will be connected next year, according to the release. Both projects are estimated to be completed by October 2018.
State officials believe PFOA, a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon, which ChemFab used to coat fiberglass fabrics from 1968 through 2002, was primarily spread through factory stack emissions that built up in soil. The material has since leached into groundwater and private wells.
Saint-Gobain acquired ChemFab in 2000 and closed the local operation in 2002.
The ANR will provide routine project updates.