Compiled by The Bedford Citizen
A Bedford Patch story on May 8, 2019 states, “PFAS were found in drinking water supplies in Bedford.” The story neglected to mention that the compounds were actually detected in groundwater in Bedford’s North Airfield area, not in Bedford’s drinking water. (About 85% of the Town’s drinking water comes from the MWRA, and the other 15% is drawn from the Shawsheen municipal wellfield, northeast of the Great Road.)
At Wednesday evening’s Navy Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting in Bedford, perfluorinated compounds in the North Airfield groundwater was one of a number of topics discussed by Maritiza Montegross, the Navy’s Restoration Project Manager.
Montegross explained that in 2014, the Navy detected PFAS in a sample from one of a number of monitoring wells on the inactivated Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant (NWIRP) property in Bedford’s North Airfield area. The PFAS level of 0.17ug/L, was below the EPA level of concern for drinking water at that time. However, in 2016, the EPA issued a new health advisory which lowered the level of concern to 0.07ug/L. In response, the Navy determined to more closely monitor PFAS levels on the site and initiated a new sampling program in April 2018.
A full discussion of recent developments in the Navy monitoring program for the Bedford NWIRP can be viewed at: https://www.navfac.navy.mil/niris/MID_ATLANTIC/BEDFORD_NWIRP/N93880_001349.pdf
Regarding PFAS in Bedford North Airfield groundwater, the September 2018 report states, “Once sufficient data have been collected, the Navy will evaluate whether additional remedial actions are warranted. In the meantime, the existing LUCs (Land Use Controls) that prevent groundwater use are protective of human health and the environment.”
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