Wayland Department of Public Works Director Thomas Holder wishes to update the community about the recently-installed treatment system to address elevated levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the water supply.
The resin-based PFAS treatment system, which the Town has been working to implement since Spring 2021 with guidance and support from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), became active on June 6.
The Happy Hollow Wellfield, which has shown PFAS levels above the regulated amount, now shows undetectable PFAS levels due to the treatment system.
“The Town of Wayland has been working aggressively and continuously since February 2021 to develop and implement the most effective and efficient means possible of addressing elevated levels of PFAS,” Holder said. “We are confident that this new resin-based mitigation system is the best course of action at this time.”
MassDEP recognizes that the Town has demonstrated its drinking water now meets regulated PFAS levels, but it is unable to issue a Return to Compliance Notice at this time due to the treatment system’s current status as a pilot operation.
Due to the costs associated with installing and operating this treatment system, the Board of Public Works voted to include an itemized PFAS surcharge on all water bills, to make residents aware of the cost of the mitigation.
Additionally, one of the Town provisions resulting from last year’s PFAS Notice of Non-Compliance was to provide alternative water sources to customers within the MassDEP-defined PFAS6 sensitive sub-group.
Now that the Town has demonstrated undetectable levels of PFAS at the Happy Hollow Wellfield, the provision of alternative water to Town and private facilities and the Rebate Program have been discontinued.
Residents may contact the Department of Public Works at 508-358-3672 with any questions relative to this important drinking water matter.
So what exactly does this mean? The water is safe to drink, effective immediately?
I have the same question as Lenna Kutner, the Happy Hollow well was, as I understand, only part of the mix of Wayland water. Does this now mean we are free of PFAS in all our water? Many residents purchased filtering systems, including our family. Is it safe to assume they are no longer needed, or should we wait a bit longer. Thank you.
The Town has to wait for the state, to certify its levels as being in Compliance with State regulations to fully state that the Town is within the State regulation. Till then as stated the Town is Within the levels in which the State sets as Safe since July6, 2022… This does not say that the Water supply is completely free of PFAS. It says it is within the regulated safe levels Town wide. Set forth by the New State Mandated Levels for safe drinking water levels. Federal levels call for 70 Parts Per….. Massachusetts has set mandated levels to 20 Parts Per.
What will it take for DEP to issue a return to compliance notice?
The following was submitted by Cliff Lewis:
The editor of Wayland eNews has requested a response to the questions raised by the Town’s PFAS press release. My response is from that direct request and it is based on my personal knowledge, beliefs and experiences, not those from any Town official.
PFAS Levels in the Water
Levels of PFAS compounds are measured in the Town’s wells every month. You can find the results posted monthly at this link: https://www.wayland.ma.us/pfas#anchor_ScannnedReports.
The information provided simply says that the level of PFAS in the water supply is below the State limit and that water treated with the new PFAS mitigation shows non-detectable levels. The Happy Hollow PFAS treatment system is a new installation. From time-to-time, it has been necessary to take it off-line for maintenance and improvements. These will probably continue as will the review from the MassDEP.
Is the “Water safe to drink?”
The Water Department diligently makes every effort to ensure that the water supply meets the State requirements. “Safe to Drink”, however is a value judgment and one that you have to make. Virtually all activities in life involve some risk.
The State believes that meeting its requirements reduces the drinking water risk to an acceptable level. Your decision is no different from believing that it is safe to ride in a car or to walk down a set of stairs. All involve some risk. Personally, I believe the risk from drinking water is very low at the State’s specifications.
Reducing PFAS Exposure
PFAS exposure is accumulated over a lifetime from all sources. If your concern is personal PFAS exposure, hundreds of studies show that exposure comes from multiple sources; the highest of which is from foods we eat. Food exposure to PFAS is generally four to five times that from drinking water. Unfortunately, PFAS exposure from food is hard to quantify and hard to identify, but Consumer Reports has issued a report that you can find here that give you some indication: https://www.consumerreports.org/pfas-food-packaging/dangerous-pfas-chemicals-are-in-your-food-packaging-a3786252074/.
(Note that the concentrations in the Consumer Reports study are measured in parts per million and one part per million equals a very large number of parts per trillion).
In my mind, the risk from PFAS exposure from foods is far higher than it is from water and I am focusing on reducing PFAS from the high concentration sources such as those cited by Consumer Reports.
Regarding State Compliance
We have seen that the MassDEP has strict and immediate criteria for declaring non-compliance. Unfortunately, there are no similar criteria for reinstating compliance. In fact, we have seen no criteria from the MassDEP on the declaration of return to compliance and we have not seen the MassDEP reinstate compliance to even one municipality. Each reinstatement seems to be handled one at a time and with no certain criteria. Hence, Wayland will return to compliance only when the Mass DEP decides and under what circumstances they decide. Unfortunately, there are no existing guidelines.