The following article is the final in a series of articles that I wrote/edited about PFAS contamination in one of the communities I cover. The other articles were published in Redemption Rock News, and I resigned and published this as an independent journalist when Redemption Rock declined to continue coverage right before a critical town-wide vote.
The townspeople ultimately voted on a resolution and are currently engaged in nationwide litigation against manufacturers of PFAS chemicals.
The infographic shown accompanied the original article. Click the image to access a version with functional links.
Special Town Meeting This Wednesday
To Determine Potential PFAS Remediation
There will be a Special Town Meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Thomas Prince School. Princeton residents will vote on six articles, the first of which offers a potential solution to households that have chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in their private wells.
The vote will determine whether or not the Town will raise, or transfer from available funds, $178,000 to purchase and install point-of-entry treatment, or POET, systems for certain households affected by PFAS contamination.
According to data obtained from the Princeton Selectboard, more than 60 houses and several municipal buildings within a radius of this contamination source have had detectable levels of PFAS, chemicals that have been linked to birth defects and other serious health risks, in their wells for several years.
“It’s been a total disruption of our lives,” said Terry Hart, one of the affected residents who lives on Radford Road.
One source of the PFAS contamination for these specific households is aqueous film forming foam, the firefighting foam that was used to extinguish the 2017 fire at the former Princeton Inn at 30 Mountain Road.
More than a dozen local fire departments helped to fight that fire, though it is unknown which department(s) supplied the foam, which was authorized for use at the time. Princeton Fire Chief John Bennett said at a September PFAS information session that Princeton has not used that foam for 20 years due to its cost.
In 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection began a program to collect and safely destroy all of the AFFF stockpiles from fire departments around the state because it contains PFAS compounds.
The Princeton Selectboard recently announced that the Town has “engaged special counsel to represent Princeton and file a suit on our behalf in Federal court as part of the Multi-District Litigation against companies that designed, manufactured, marketed, distributed, and/or sold PFAS.”
Meanwhile, the Princeton Selectboard has been working closely with the environmental consulting firm Tighe & Bond and their licensed site professional Jeff Arps, as well as environmental lawyer Barry Fogel, to ensure the Town is meeting the Massachusetts DEP regulations. The Town is currently providing POET systems to residents in the affected area with PFAS concentrations of 20 parts per trillion or more in their water supplies, the maximum contaminant level allowed under the Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations. These POET systems filter and disinfect water before it enters a home’s plumbing system, and allow residents to use all of their taps to obtain water without detectable levels of PFAS compounds.
According to the warrant for the Special Town Meeting, approximately 35 of the affected homes in Princeton have detectable levels of PFAS, but do not meet the 20 ppt threshold to receive a POET system from the Town. The Town currently provides bottled water to these homes, and the vote on Wednesday will determine whether these households will receive POET systems in lieu of bottled water going forward.
Some residents have been using Town-provided water bottles for their potable water needs for more than two years and will continue to receive bottled water, potentially indefinitely, until they no longer have detectable levels of PFAS in their wells, according to the Selectboard. This bottled water costs the Town approximately $1,500 per month in total.
Hart, who has had PFAS contamination in his well since 2019, currently receives bottled water. He says he sometimes forgets to use bottled water, as he grew up in his current home, and is used to using the tap for drinking water and making coffee.
“I want a POET and I want my neighbors to have a POET,” Hart said. “I want us all to feel relatively comfortable that we can drink the water.”
Earlier this year, the Selectboard charged the Town Advisory Committee with determining whether these homes with PFAS concentrations below 20 ppt should receive POET systems as well. The Advisory Committee voted no on this issue over the summer, though the final decision was left up to the Selectboard.
The Advisory Committee noted that residents are able to install POET systems for their homes out of their own pockets under MassDEP regulations.
“The homeowners had nothing to do with the contamination,” Hart said of this suggestion. “I don’t want to pay for something I didn’t cause.”
One of the three members of the Princeton Selectboard, Karen Cruise, lives in a home with detectable levels of PFAS, and she has recused herself from all PFAS matters. At a September PFAS information session, Selectboard member Richard Bisk said that he and fellow Selectboard member Matthew Moncreaff, did not feel it was appropriate for them to make a large financial decision on behalf of the town on their own, and ultimately decided to call this Special Town Meeting.
“It’s a very confusing message to tell people that your water is ok, but don’t drink it,” said Moncreaff. “At some point, you need a long term solution. It’s a lot that we had to think about, but in the end we felt that taking this to the town was the most democratic way to do it.”