PFAS in Cape Cod water more widespread than previously known

 

PFAS in Cape Cod water more widespread than previously known

Jeannette Hinkle Cape Cod Times

Published Mar 11, 2021 

A wake-up call. 

That’s how Barnstable County Commissioner Mark Forest described a Harvard University study published last week that found PFAS — “forever chemicals” linked to cancer, immune suppression, low birth weight and other conditions — have contaminated more groundwater on Cape Cod than was previously known.

The study, published in the journal “Environmental Science & Technology,” included revelations that previously unknown levels of the chemicals were present in Mashpee and Hyannis watersheds, potentially putting drinking water at risk.

Researchers used a new testing method that detected more PFAS than the tests regularly used by state and federal officials.

The total levels of PFAS detected in the three sites tested by researchers were all above the maximum levels set by the state for drinking water, according to Bridger Ruyles, the study’s lead author. 

What are PFAS? 

Cape residents who want to learn more about the human health impacts of PFAS contaminants in drinking water and how people can reduce their risk should join a webinar hosted by Barnstable and the Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFAS (STEEP) program led by the University of Rhode Island in partnership with Harvard and the Silent Spring Institute, County Administrator Jack Yunits said.

The webinar, which will feature two speakers from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, will be held Thursday, March 11 from noon to 1 p.m. To register visit this link.

On Wednesday, Forest called for an additional informational forum to educate Cape residents about the study’s implications.

He said representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the military, which has worked to monitor PFAS contamination emanating from Joint Base Cape Cod, should be invited to take questions from the public.

“It's helpful to give homeowners, taxpayers, property owners, residents who are very concerned about this some basic information about what we know about this contamination, what we know about where it's found and what it might mean from a health impact,” said Forest, who noted he’s especially concerned about the researchers’ discovery that the chemicals’ presence in Cape groundwater is more widespread than previously thought.

'Forever chemicals' more widespread 

“I’m particularly concerned about these newer areas,” he said.

Forest, who wants to organize a separate briefing for County Commissioners about the extent of PFAS contamination on Cape Cod, said the study draws new attention to the vulnerability of the Cape’s drinking water supply. 

“I don’t think people are aware of how important it is to still make as a priority the protection of our drinking water supplies,” he said. “We are a sole source aquifer. We all know that. But what that means is we get our water from the ground on Cape Cod.”

Yunits has battled the Cape’s PFAS problem since arriving on the job five years ago. He said the problem is so far-reaching, so expensive and so difficult to fix that the federal government should step in.

“Until the federal government takes the lead on this, we're all going to be running in circles because nobody knows how to handle it,” he said. “Nobody knows.”

Barnstable has spent $20 million over the past six years removing PFAS from its municipal drinking water supply, according to the town, but the method it uses likely won’t remove all PFAS chemicals, which number in the thousands and are found in everything from food containers to nonstick pans.

“We’ve been lucky that the ones we’ve found have been treatable, but others are not so,” Barnstable Department of Public Works Director Dan Santos told the Times.

County Commissioner Sheila Lyons, who backed Forest’s proposal to host a forum for residents about the problem, said the Harvard report is vindication that resident and researcher concerns about PFAS groundwater contamination weren’t alarmist.

“There is something wrong,” Lyons said. “It's a very broad issue, but we can't as people just accept, ‘Well, these are the products we need and this is how they are made and we have to accept it.’ I don't think we have to accept it, and we can demand a change. But that only comes from education and having people understand.”