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PFAS contamination at landfill area spurs testing, debate over Solid Waste Committee role
Summary
Select Board and residents discussed high PFAS results near the town landfill and Crane/Cray Neck wetlands; DES and Ares Engineering are involved in monitoring, and the board questioned the Solid Waste Committee's process and asked it to refocus while Ares completes a feasibility study.
The Select Board discussed contamination monitoring near the town’s landfill and adjacent Crane/Cray Neck wetlands after a Solid Waste Committee report raised alarm about elevated PFAS levels and whether the town’s monitoring program was sufficiently broad.
Resident and Planning Board member Megan (last name in public record) told the board she had consulted the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and cited DES staff describing elevated PFAS at monitoring wells around the landfill. “When I read that report, it was alarming. The numbers are alarming,” she told the board, adding DES had indicated the state might expand the groundwater monitoring boundary if nearby private wells or surface water tests showed comparable levels.
DES’s project manager for the site, the resident said, advised that surface-water testing is newly emphasized and that future state regulation could require remediation or point-of-entry filtration for private wells. The resident cited possible remediation costs ranging from thousands per household for point-of-entry filters to millions if excavation and full-site remediation were required.
Ares Engineering, the town’s consultant on landfill monitoring, told the board the town’s current management and monitoring costs would not disappear if the transfer station moved; environmental liability remains and future development should avoid known contaminated areas, the consultant advised. The board was told the town has a dedicated cap reserve of about $153,000 that is earmarked for capping the landfill but may not cover PFAS-specific remediation.
Select Board members and residents disagreed about process. Several members said the Solid Waste Committee appeared to have favored a transfer-station relocation late in its own minutes and that committee reports were circulated without adequate prior notice to the Select Board. Select Board members asked whether the committee had followed its charge and recommended updating the committee’s marching orders and bylaws.
Board members directed short-term steps: continue private testing already planned for Crane/Cray Neck and nearby private wells; ask Ares Engineering to provide line-item estimates for additional well testing; and delay major decisions about moving the transfer station until Ares completes the feasibility study. The board also told the Solid Waste Committee to focus on near-term, specific tasks—household hazardous-waste day planning, sticker/bag policy follow-up, and clearer monthly reporting—while the engineering work proceeds.
The Select Board agreed to draft clearer directions and a timeline for the Solid Waste Committee before the committee’s next meeting and to ask the committee chair to name a vice chair so the group can act in the chair’s absence. The board also discussed appointing a liaison or asking committee members to follow a more disciplined agenda and reporting format.
No regulatory enforcement action by DES was announced at the meeting. Town officials said they will await additional lab results and DES guidance before considering expensive remediation options or filing warrant articles for funding.
