Coakley Landfill Test Update: All Results Below State Standards

CONCORD, NH — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES) have received results for residential well water samples collected in the vicinity of the former Coakley Landfill in North Hampton and Greenland, according to a press statement.

According to Jim Martin, the public information officer for the NH DES, the results released on July 26, 2016, show "non-detect to low level concentrations of perfluorochemicals (PFCs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)." None of the results exceeded the recently established NHDES ambient groundwater quality standard (AGQS) of 70 parts per trillion (ppt), he noted.

"In response to the May sampling by the Coakley Landfill Group (a group of potentially responsible parties [PRPs]) of eight monitoring wells at or adjacent to the landfill that showed concentrations of PFCs exceeding the NHDES AGQS, NHDES initiated sampling for the presence of PFCs in nearby residential private drinking water wells," Martin stated. "A total of 16 residential wells were sampled with five having detections of PFCs. Three of the five wells had detections of perfluoroheptanoic acid, a suspected lab contaminant associated with the use of Teflon tubing; one well had a detection of PFOS at 8.1 ppt; and PFOA was detected in another well at a concentration of 25 ppt. In no case did the concentrations of PFCs exceed the established AGQS."

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To further evaluate the extent of PFCs in groundwater, the PRPs recently completed an expanded sampling of PFCs in monitoring wells outside of the landfill footprint. Results from this sampling event are expected in mid-August.

The former Coakley Landfill is a federal Superfund site that received municipal and industrial wastes from 1972 to 1982. From 1982 to 1985, when land-filling activities terminated, the site received incinerator residue from the Portsmouth Refuse-to-Energy Facility at the Pease Air Force Base. The landfill was capped in 1998 to help prevent further migration of groundwater contamination. The next five-year-review is scheduled to be finalized in September 2016, according to Martin.

Courtesy photo from the U.S. EPA.