PFOA Contamination Response: Community Updates
Week of September 12, 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.
BenningtonNorth Bennington & Bennington Update
Save the Date for next public meeting on Sep. 28th  --  T he next community meeting to discuss PFOA issues in Bennington is scheduled for September 28, 2016 at 6pm at the CAPS Auditorium at Bennington  College. 
 
Updated on bottled water pick-up location: Bottled water pick-up at D's Market and Deli will no longer be available starting the week of September 26th.  For the last six months, bottled water has been made available at designated locations (initially North Bennington Variety and then D's Market and Deli on East Road) for residences while their wells were being tested for PFOA. The purpose of having a centralized location was to serve as an interim measure until residences with detected concentrations of PFOA water could begin receiving bottled water.  

Since the end of February, over 520 residential wells have been sampled in the Bennington/North Bennington area.  Over the last several months, the area of interest has not changed and the number of sample requests have significantly decreased.  The need for a designated location for water pickup is no longer necessary because residences that have PFOA detected in their well are either receiving bottled water or in the process of having bottled water delivered.  In addition, freezing temperatures are just around the corner, and there is no place to store pallets of water inside D's Market and Deli.  

As sampling and re-sampling continues within the area of interest, direct bottled water delivery will be made available to those impacted residences. Please contact W.B. Mason directly at 508-436-8869 if you have questions about your current delivery. 

Thank you to all the generous folks at D's Market and Deli who stepped up in a time of need and acted as a key resource in the State's response to PFOA contamination in the North Bennington community. Your efforts have been appreciated by all.

Re-sampling of water supply wells to begin week of Sep. 19: Re-sampling of a number of the water supply wells in the Bennington/North Bennington area that have non-detect results or PFOA concentrations less than 20 parts per trillion will start the week of September 19th. It is anticipated that this sampling effort will take about two weeks.  The exact homes to be re-sampled have not yet been determined. You will be receiving an email or a phone call from the State's consultant Weston & Sampson to schedule the re-sampling of your water supply. 

As with initial sampling efforts, analytical results will be sent by mail two to three weeks after the sample was collected.  If you have any questions about this re-sampling effort, please contact DEC staff Richard Spiese or John Schmeltzer at (802) 828-1138.

U.S. Geological Survey is coming to town --  A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Science Center has partnered with the Vermont Geological Survey in DEC to help understand the recharge characteristics and the movement of groundwater and contaminants in fractured bedrock. The USGS brings some unique analytical capabilities to the project. The USGS will sample for isotopic and chemical tracers for determining ages and recharge characteristics of water in domestic wells contaminated with PFOA in the Bennington area. Jamie Shanley and Tom Mack from the USGS plan to contact homeowners and sample 8 wells in the Bennington area in the next few weeks.

Contact information: Jamie Shanley - jshanley@usgs.gov or Thomas Mack - tmack@usgs.gov. Welcome to Vermont! 


New filtration equipment at FD#2 pump house to be protected against freezing temps -- A shed is expected to be installed over the granular activated carbon units at the pump house by mid-October . This  will include installation of heat trace around any exposed outside piping and a separate heater inside the shed for the carbon vessels.

shaftsburyShaftsbury Update
No updates this week.
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.