PFOA Contamination Response: Community Updates
Week of August 29, 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. If you wish to stop receiving these updates, you may unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of this e-mail. 

NOTE: Because the news pace has slowed down, we will now be sending community updates
every other week. 

Thank you.
scienceMeet Another Face of Geoscience 

De Simone Geoscience Investigations (DGI) is working under contract with the State of Vermont to map the soils and glacial deposits in the North Bennington area. The origins and layering of these deposits have a strong bearing on the pathways of migration of PFOA into bedrock.  Questions as to the nature, lateral extent, thickness,  porosity and permeability of these sediments will be answered.

Dr. David De Simone, part of the geoscience team , may approach you to request access to your property so he can look at the sediments. The work generally involves making small hand-auger holes in the ground and describing the materials found, perhaps also taking samples of material.  

You can contact Dr. De Simone by e-mail at hawkeye272david@yahoo.com or by leaving your phone number with the Vermont Geological Survey at 802-522-5210 or 802-522-5401.
BenningtonNorth Bennington & Bennington Update
Meetings on rulemaking process held this week -- 
Public meetings were held in Bennington and Montpelier this week to receive comments on the proposed amendments to add PFOA and PFOS to the Groundwater Protection Rule and the Hazardous Waste Management Rule.  The public comment period ends September 9. You may submit comments by e-mailing matt.chapman@vermont.gov. More information is available on the DEC PFOA page.

Local milk is confirmed free of PFOA and PFOS -- Results from milk samples taken from a dairy in North Benningotn were received by the Agency of Agriculture last week. PFOA and PFOS were not detected in the samples. 
 
Updated PFOA Sampling Results --  An updated summary table of private well sampling results to date is below. This was updated August 23, 2016. All recent data can be found on the Bennington/North Bennington PFOA webpage.  

Sampling continued this week to fill in locations within the sampling boundaries for the Bennington/North Bennington site. 

Status update on municipal water system extension -- The majority of residents with wells impacted by PFOA above the health advisory limit (20 parts per trillion) have expressed a desire to be connected to an extended municipal water system as a long-term solution to contamination. The rough costs of including most impacted residents were part of the preliminary engineering studies performed for both systems. 

The next step is to fund a final engineering design for an extended system in Bennington and North Bennington. Saint-Gobain is being asked to cover the costs of a final engineering design. 

Final report on soil sampling in surrounding areas of Chemfab -- A summary of soil sampling results from a draft report produced by Saint-Gobain's contractor were shared back in April 2016. That report has been reviewed and approved by the Vermont DEC, pending the submission of original data sets. In review, here are the major findings from the soil testing survey: 
  • The majority of soil samples have less than 10 ug/kg (ppb) of PFOA, and all samples were below Vermont Soil Screening Values of 300 ppb.
  • There is no trend in the average perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and average PFOA concentration data within increasing depth below surface.
  • There appears to be a linear declining trend between highest average of total PFCs and PFOA, and the distance from the site. 
The full report is available online, as is DEC's response letter to the submitted report. 
Saint Gobain's consultant, CT Male Associates, has acknowledged receipt of this letter and confirmed that they will be working on performing the recommendations made in the letter.
 
DEC still awaiting re-sampling plan for wells under 20 parts per trillion --  The resampling plan to be submitted by Saint-Gobain's contractor CT Male  is still yet to be submitted. The plan will outline  a strategy to re-sample wells where PFOA was non-detect or below 20 parts per trillion. The plan was expected 3 weeks ago. Saint Gabain has indicated that they are working on finalizing the plan for submittal.

The resampling plan is need to confirm that drinking water wells in the Bennington area remain below the state's Health Advisory for PFOA and the water is safe to drink.

None this week.
shaftsburyShaftsbury Update
Private wells near landfill all under 20 parts per trillion --  Gov. Peter Shumlin last week announced testing results from drinking water wells located near the closed Shaftsbury Landfill.  Samples were collected from drinking water wells within one-quarter mile of the closed landfill. Of the 24 wells tested, 16 were non-detect for PFOA.  Eight wells had low level detections of PFOA ranging from 4 to 16 parts per trillion. All the results were below the Vermont health advisory level of 20 parts per trillion. 

"We were pleased to find that the scope of contamination in Shaftsbury is minimal, and that any impacts to drinking water are below levels of concern," said Gov. Shumlin. 

To view the full press release, click here. 
infoInformation Resources Available
For general PFOA questions and concerns:
Call 802-828-1138.
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.