Town Will Test Soil at Community Gardens for PFAS

The town will arrange for soil samples at the George Jordan Community Gardens on Hartwell Road where one participant recently abandoned her plot because of concerns about the chemical compounds known as PFAS.

Jeffrey Summers, conservation administrator, told the Conservation Commission at a recent meeting that he and Town Manager Matt Hanson agreed that the testing would either put the concerns to rest or provide the evidence needed for a response. The cost is expected to be a few hundred dollars, and the samples also will be tested for metals.

The community gardens are close to the area of Hanscom Field where mitigation of groundwater contamination has been ongoing for decades. A few years ago, the agencies involved confirmed the presence of PFAS, which has been connected to the burn pits not far from the Jordan land. 

PFAS is an abbreviation for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, PFAS “are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s because of their useful properties…Scientific studies have shown that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.”

Summers said the installation of new monitoring wells nearby as part of the cleanup process “has caused alarm in some people’s minds that Jordan is so close that it must be polluted.” Member Lori Eggert told of the gardener’s departure over concerns about an underground “PFAS plume.”

But commission member Frank Richichi pointed out that the community gardens’ water supply emanates from the town distribution system and does not use groundwater.  

He noted that past soil tests were negative, but probably didn’t include PFAS since those substances were discovered in recent years. He added that there has been no evidence of contamination from other gardens and farms in the drainage area, adding that testing would help “make someone feel comfortable.” 

He said he would be more concerned about the synthetic turf planned for installation at Sabourin Field in a year.

“Nobody even knows what a dangerous level of PFAS is,” said member Deb Edinger. The chemicals, she said, “are permanent, and they’re all over the place.” 

The commission also approved, with its standard order of conditions, installation of a bog bridge along a trail in the conservation area south of Copeland Drive. Kristin Dowdy, the Public Works Department’s environmental engineer, explained that a section of the existing trail periodically turns muddy, and hikers “take matters into their own hands with sticks and rocks so they don’t walk in the mud.”

“So, when we see that happening, we want to put in official bog bridges to prevent people from widening the trail, especially in wetlands,” she said, noting that the segment, which connects to the Narrow Gauge Trail and Springs Road, is also part of the regional Bay Circuit Trail.

The length of the proposed bridge is 150 feet and the maximum disturbed area for installation would be 450 square feet, she told the commission. She also noted that the standard bog bridge now has a lighter design, crafted by the chair of the Trails Committee, John Campos.

The commission also heard from Emily Moss, who with her brother Jeremy wants to donate a bench off the Narrow Gauge Trail near the Buehler Ponds as a memorial to their father. Dr. Stephen Moss, a psychologist who practiced in Bedford, Billerica, and Lexington, “really loved that spot,” she told the commission. Her father died in 2023.

Richichi shared his experience with bench placement in the Great Meadows Natural Wildlife Refuge in Concord: animals will gnaw on wooden benches and plastic or metal is preferred. 

The commission agreed to the placement as long as it’s not in wetlands or encroaching the 25-foot wetlands buffer zone. Moss said she will connect with Summers on the final location and installation.

[Editor’s Note: some typos were updated on 5/21/2025 at 10 a.m.]