The Good, the Bad, & the Water: PFAS Update from Citizen Advocate

The Good, the Bad, & the Water: Dispatches from the Bedford PFAS Citizen Commissioner

Michael Strand

PFAS Commission Bedford Citizen Advocate

Where We Are Now

My experience as Bedford Citizen Commissioner on the state PFAS Commission has been eye opening, and includes advocacy at all levels.

Fear of PFAS chemicals is justified because they cause cancer, disrupt hormones, and take years to dissipate, but this is not an issue we should hide from in Bedford, or anywhere else.

Clean water and air must be the highest priorities for our kids, and we must protect both ourselves and our property from corporate polluters infringing on our rights. No one consented to contaminated water, whether they live inside the Consent Decree or not.

This means continued efforts to expand municipal water infrastructure for streets with high frequency contamination, without mandates or negative impact to Bedford taxpayers, so that affected individuals have greater choice in how their mode of well remediation is addressed by DES and Saint-Gobain.

People also need access to all the information, so they can make the best choice for themselves and their families.

Facts

• PFAS chemicals are called “forever chemicals” because they dissipate at very slow rates in the body, can easily pass between air, water, soil, & plants.

• PFAS chemicals cause cancer over time as they aggregate in our blood. Higher the level, higher the risk. Most common associated impacts are to breasts, reproductive organs, and kidneys, but PFAS also hinders immune response.

• Everyone has trace amounts of PFAS in our blood due to the ubiquity of the chemicals present in consumer & industrial products

• PFAS blood tests are available through your primary care provider and covered by insurance.

• Municipal water systems often show some reading of PFAS if sampled, but are below the New Hampshire .12 / 12 parts per trillion limit.

• Both Point of Use [POU] and Point of Entry Treatment [POET] filters yield “Not Detectable” water readings when sampled for PFAS chemicals.

• Even with filtration systems, wells could still leach PFAS to other wells.

• Saint-Gobain is still emitting a potentially harmful variation of PFAS chemicals called GenX.

What We’re Doing

Senator Denise Ricciardi sponsored a bipartisan bill that just passed the Senate, funding

10 million in PFAS infrastructure grants. This will help contaminated wells outside the Consent Decree for which Saint-Gobain has not taken responsibility, but likely caused. Representative Catherine Rombeau co-sponsored.

Another bill funds the study of kidney rates and causes in Merrimack; both Denise and Catherine are co-sponsors.

Bedford Town Councilor Chris Bandazian now chairs the state PFAS Commission, leading efforts to study and report on health and environmental impacts. Senator Ricciardi was also just appointed to the committee.

The NH state rebate program pays $5,000.00 for filter systems and municipal water connections. Federal representatives Pappas and Hassan are working to bring additional Federal infrastructure dollars to New Hampshire, and NHDES is working to expedite Saint-Gobain’s installation of Point of Entry Filtration Systems or water hookups for residents receiving bottled water.

Thanks to the efforts of Town Manager Rick Sawyer, the Executive Council just approved a grant of >1.3 million dollars for the Town of Bedford to administer 6,500.00 rebates for filters/water hook-ups.

We must guarantee every Bedford resident has clean water, but also hold Saint-Gobain and the State accountable so that residents aren’t subsidizing remediation of their own chemical polluter through State and Federal funds—taxpayer dollars—cleaning up Saint-Gobain’s mess.

Recommendations

Legislative

• Define “permanent solution” for water remediation as municipal water lines, except where majority residents don’t want them, which will empower NHDES to hold Saint-Gobain more fiscally responsible for the contamination they caused
• Ban PFAS. Maine has already done this. https://www.bdlaw.com/publicat...

• Lower the maximum contaminate limit (mcl) to .01 [1 parts per trillion], or undetectable
• Sponsor legislation that requires individual property owner be consulted regarding remediation mode [water line extension or filtrations system] and that choice be recorded on record with DES.

Town of Bedford

• The Town Council should send Saint-Gobain a quote for water main extensions on affected streets with close proximity to current water lines, where the majority of affected residents want municipal water
• Residents with town-affected wells should be treated with dignity and transparency, and remediated and reimbursed appropriately

Individuals / Property Owners

• Get your well tested. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NHDES-S-03-008
• If PFAS detected, schedule PFAS blood test with your Primary Care Physician
• Contact me at BedfordPFASCommission@gmail.com
• Attend Bedford Citizens for Clean Water & PFAS Remediation meeting—resuming 4/8 @ 6:00 pm in Richmond Room at Bedford Public Library

Conclusions

Extended water lines will increase property values, help the Fire Department improve public safety, facilitate responsible development and affordable housing, and guarantee wells do not leach contaminants.

If residents prefer filtration systems or do not want city water due to concerns over fluoride, chlorine, or the cost of monthly water bills, that is their choice, and it should be respected.

Saint-Gobain is a 300-year-old, > 70 billion dollar French company. They can afford to take greater financial responsibility for what they caused.

We should work together as joint stakeholders at all levels—state, town, neighborhood, and individual— to guarantee the outcome is neither singular, nor dictated by corporate or government interests.

When it comes to clean water, we should control our own future.