Weston will test municipal drinking water in the coming weeks for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, but officials say residents “can be confident that they can safely continue to drink and use the water supply as normal.”
That confidence is based on tests from 2014 and 2015.
Village Administrator Keith Donner, in a news release, said required sampling conducted during those years for the EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule did not find PFAS above the reporting limits of 20 parts per trillion in any of the utility’s six wells.
The release comes in the wake of news that all of Wausau’s drinking water wells had levels above 20 ppt in tests performed late last year. Testing is not required by state or federal regulators at this time, but the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources are targeting a future drinking water standard.
In his release, Donner said that the current 2022 target date for the DNR to set a standard and the 2023 target date for the EPA “are causing confusion with the issue.”
“We will continue to follow EPA’s and DNR’s lead on PFAS to keep your drinking water safe according to the Safe Drinking Water Act,” Donner’s release stated.
The EPA is taking steps to address PFAS chemicals under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and strengthen the ability to clean up PFAS contamination across the country. PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s. Current scientific research suggests that exposure to high levels of certain PFAS may lead to adverse health outcomes.
Results of sampling will be made available to the public.
