Authority: Discovery of PFAS in Martinsburg Water Not Cause for Alarm

Municipal water authorities have a laundry list of contaminates they are required to test for regularly to ensure the water supply meets the Safe Drinking Water Standards set by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Martinsburg Borough’s water supply is below the limits for all contaminants, including the recently discovered polyfluorinated substance (PFAS), and is safe to drink, according to Martinsburg Municipal Authority Engineer Larry Lennon Jr., of Lennon Smith Souleret Engineers.

While the discovery of PFAS has prompted the authority to join in a class action lawsuit against companies that manufacture products that contain PFAS components, Lennon and Borough Manager Rich Brantner Jr. said the drinking water in Martinsburg meets all DEP safe drinking water standards and poses no risk.

What are PFAS?

Perfuoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manufactured chemicals found in everyday items like clothes, food packaging with grease-resistant paper such as pizza boxes, fast food containers, candy wrappers and microwave popcorn, non-stick cookware, personal care items such as shampoo, dental floss and cosmetics, water-resistant carpeting, pesticides, paints, varnishes, and sealants.

Following a deadly explosion on a U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier in 1967, PFAS was added to firefighting foam to create aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) to extinguish flammable liquid-based fires. AFFFs are used in emergency events at airports, shipyards, military bases, chemical plants, and refineries.

PFAS has been used in consumer products since the 1940s because of useful properties such as repelling moisture and resilience to temperature, but the problem with the chemical, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DEP, is the chemical does not break down and remains in the environment, finding its way into water sources.

Lennon said PFAS is a “forever chemical” because the chemical bond in it is so strong that it does not degrade.

“The key word is ‘forever’ because it just does not break down in the environment,” Lennon said.

Found in Pa. water supplies

Because PFAS has been used for decades, its presence in the environment and some municipal water supplies is not new, just newly discovered.

The state became aware of PFAS as an emerging contaminant in 2013 when EPA included it in its Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) for drinking water. UCMR is a federal regulation that is updated every five years to include new contaminants that public water systems must monitor if they serve more than 10,000 customers.

Ahead of federal action in setting a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for PFAS, meaning a safe-level threshold in water supplies, in 2018 then- Pa. Gov. Tom Wolf created an action team of officials from 10 Pennsylvania agencies and commissions to research and examine the impact of PFAS on the environment and reduce human exposure in drinking water.

Lennon said the governor’s action team picked selected water authorities across the state to test for PFAS and Martinsburg was likely chosen because of its proximity to an airport.

“Of the municipalities I represent, the ones chosen for sample were near a major airport or river,” Lennon said.

Low levels of PFAS were found in the Martinsburg samples taken by the state, and although it is an “educated guess” how it got into the water, Lennon said firefighting foam seems to be the logical explanation.

Lennon credits the governor’s task force with identifying water systems with small amounts of PFAS, like Martinsburg, and acting before federal requirements were established.

“Had Pennsylvania not formed this task force ahead of DEP standards, this chemical would have gone undetected and possibly gotten worse for areas who now have very little amounts,” he said.

Lennon said just this year the EPA started doing a nationwide study of PFAS contaminants but because Martinsburg was part of the governor’s task force, it gave them a chance to get in front of the problem.

“Because they came out and sampled our wells, we are aware of its presence while other authorities might not be because they have not been sampled yet,” he said.

Martinsburg water is safe

Lennon said the DEP will release a new safe drinking water standard for PFAS in January and that Martinsburg is well below that threshold.

“What was detected in Martinsburg is below that safe drinking water standard, so we are in compliance with that standard based on the samplings we have conducted” Lennon said.

Lennon said PFAS is measured in parts per trillion, one drop of PFAS in one trillion drops of water, in contrast to nitrates which are measured in parts per million.

“With this measured in parts per trillion, which is unheard of for drinking water standards, it’s such a small number,” Lennon said.

Brantner said the level of PFAS found in Martinsburg’s water is so small it would be like “two drops of food coloring dropped in 18 million gallons of water.”

Lennon acknowledged that a new contaminate found in drinking water will cause concern, but the thresholds for safe drinking water standards ensure the water is safe.

“Just because a contaminant is detected, that does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe for consumption,” he said.

Martinsburg’s water supply comes from ground water, which can work in its favor as far as more PFAS finding its way into its wells. Lennon said it is much more common for a new contaminant to be found in surface water like reservoirs and rivers than in ground water where it can be absorbed before making its way into the wells.

Proactive lawsuit

Brantner said Martinsburg’s involvement in the lawsuit against companies who manufacture products containing PFAS should not be construed as that the water supply is contaminated, but merely a pro-active approach to getting funds to eliminate it from the system.

Lennon said when the governor’s task force released PFAS sample results online, law firms began jumping on class action lawsuits. Brantner said the Martinsburg authority was contacted last fall about joining the suit.

Although the PFAS levels in Martinsburg’s water are at safe levels, the reality is it is going to need remediated, and it will be costly. Brantner said Martinsburg is joining the suit to get the makers of PFAS to pay for the remediation, so the cost is not absorbed by the authority and its stakeholders.

Lennon said his understanding is the genesis of the lawsuit, like one a few years ago when some authorities, not Martinsburg, found the gasoline additive FTBE in their water fields and were able to get money to clean it up.

“Being part of the class action suit is the authority being proactive, so they don’t get burdened with the cost,” Lennon said.

Lennon said it is unclear how PFAS can be treated because of its resiliency.

“The easiest way to treat this would be a chemical addition at the water plant but there is no easy chemical way to break the chain, so it just stays there,” he said. “Some kind of treatment like groundwater remediation or treatment at the plant would be most cost-effective.”

While the authority waits for the lawsuit to make its way through the courts, Brantner said Martinsburg’s drinking water is as safe as it has always been and the detection of a small amount of PFAS has not changed that.

“We are below every safe drinking water threshold,” he said. “The drinking water in Martinsburg is perfectly safe.”