MassDEP: bottled water and point-of-entry systems offered for private wells at or above 90 ng/L; 59 systems installed

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection told stakeholders it will step in to provide bottled water and install point-of-entry treatment systems where private wells show PFAS at or above 90 nanograms per liter and there is no potentially responsible party able or willing to act.

"If there's an imminent hazard as we have been doing now for several years, any concentration at or above 90 nanograms per liter where we don't have a PRP or the PRP is unable or unwilling to do the work, MassDEP does step in, we will immediately provide bottled water followed by installation of a point of entry treatment system," John Ziegler (DEP staff) said on the call. He said the agency currently operates 59 such systems and typically operates them for about two years before turning them over.

Ziegler said MassDEP has recorded 191 PFAS notifications on its waste-site cleanup track and is working on public-facing tools, including a story map for private-well detections similar to an existing public-water-systems map. He also said DEP is close to issuing a CAM protocol tied to "method 16 33" (discussed on the call as the EPA Method 1633 protocol) and that the agency is researching whether septic systems may be contributing PFAS to groundwater.

MassDEP staff reminded boards of health and municipal stakeholders that the agency is a technical resource and that reporting private-well detections helps DEP's source-discovery work.

Separately, Kathy Kylie (DEP staff) is leading a foam take-back program for fire-fighting foam; DEP said municipalities can arrange pickups for 5-gallon pails or similar containers.

DEP also announced brownfields roundtables planned for Taunton, Billerica, Worcester, and Greenfield and encouraged municipalities and nonprofit clients to consider the Community Wide Assessment Grant program.

No votes or formal actions were recorded on PFAS or brownfields in the meeting.