PFOA Contamination Response: Community Updates
Week of 07/25/2016
You are receiving this e-mail because you have requested to be updated on Vermont's PFOA response efforts, or because your well was recently sampled. Weekly updates are sent out by Friday each week. If you wish to stop receiving these updates, you may unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of this e-mail. Thank you.
"DO NOT DRINK" LIFTED-- DEC received results indicating the treatment system for the Pownal Water Supply effectively removed PFOA/PFOS from the drinking water. The "Do Not Drink" advisory has been lifted and water from the system may now safely be used. Click here for a press release.

EVENT TODAY: Governor to Visit Pownal -- 
Governor Shumlin will hold an event today at 3:30 pm to acknowledge the milestone and community members involved in achieving clean water again. The gathering will be held at the Pownal Rescue Squad at 22 Ladd Brook Rd. in Pownal. The public is welcome to attend. Parking is available on the field next to the pump house, or down the road at the former Mack Moulding facility parking lot.
BenningtonNorth Bennington & Bennington Update
Department of Health Blood Test Results -- Vermont Department of Health issued a press release summarizing the results of blood tests of Bennington/North Bennington residents. The geometric mean - a type of average - for the Bennington/North Bennington group is 10.0 µg/L, higher than the 2.1 µg/L average for the U.S. population. Click here for the press release.

Point-of-entry Treatment Systems --  DEC received 100 new POET results which were sent out to residents in Bennington/North Bennington.  Homeowners should get these results any day.  Results show that the POET systems continue to remove all PFOA coming from the wells.

Municipal Line Hook-Up Meeting -- North Bennington Water Commissioner hosted a public meeting last Wednesday night to discuss the Preliminary Engineering Report for connecting the residents of North Bennington impacted by PFOA onto the municipal water system.  Approximately 40 people attended the meeting, including the Water Board, Otter Creek Engineering (the author of the study), members of the Vermont DEC, and several members of the Bennington legislative delegation.  The meeting lasted about two hours with most members of the public saying they opted to be hooked up to municipal water.  The DEC hopes to obtain the power point presentation presented at the meeting to post on the DEC web page.

Reminder! Sign-up for well testing online -- Residences with private wells within the expanded area of interest east and southeast of the landfill, including those on Chapel Road, Furnace Brook Road, Reed Drive and Bradley Drive are encouraged to sign-up online to schedule drinking water sampling. Also, any residence located within the area of interest in Bennington or North Bennington that has not yet had a private well sample collected should also sign-up.  This includes those residences on Harwood Hill Road south of the Shaftsbury Town Line Road, Settlers Road, Spring Hill Road, Town Line Road, Rocky Lane, and East Road.

ShaftsburyShaftsbury Update
Sampling and Bottled Water -- A public meeting with the selectboard was held in Shaftsbury to review the results of the groundwater sample from a monitoring well on the edge of the Shaftsbury landfill. The sample was found to contain 25 ppt PFOA.  As a result of this finding, the DEC has asked the town to sample all private drinking water wells (26 wells identified to date) within ¼ mile of the landfill, as well as provide bottled water to these residents.  The meeting was appreciated by the community, although there were concerns expressed by some town members about the cost of this work to the town.  The sampling is expected to begin next week.

Click here for a map of the area around the landfill.
infoInformation Resources Available
For general PFOA questions and concerns:
Call 2-1-1.
Visit: Vermont DEC PFOA Response Page

For questions about potential health effects of PFOA:
Call the Vermont Department of Health toll-free at 800-439-8550.
Visit: Vermont Department Health PFOA Page

You may also reply to this e-mail with general questions.