Airport environmental staff on July 8 reported progress on PFAS response work, including adding two homes to bottled-water deliveries, planned lysimeter installations to inform Phase 4 remediation, and coordination with a new town PFAS coordinator.

Madison Collins, the airport’s environmental coordinator, said the airport added two homes to its bottled-water-delivery program (bringing total delivered homes to eight: five on Monahansett, one on Nobadeer and two on NBR). Collins also reported that lysimeters would be installed the week of July 14 to support Phase 4 testing and inform where remediation activities such as soil excavation or other treatment technologies would be located.

Commissioners and staff discussed treatment-system options. Staff said the airport had been awarded approximately $1.2 million from a federal PFAS treatment grant and presented a task order for McFarland Johnson to provide engineering to test a PFAS treatment product. Commissioners and members of the public compared the airport’s options with a recently installed, larger town treatment system that Mark Gillette permitted staff to view; that town system cost approximately $1.4 million and treats a much higher flow rate than the airport would need. Commissioners urged staff and consultants to evaluate whether a smaller inline filter or a resin-bed system like the town’s approach could be designed and costed quickly so the airport could be shovel-ready for funding opportunities.

Airport staff said they are coordinating with Weston Solutions (the airport’s environmental consultant) and with MassDEP on MCP (Massachusetts Contingency Plan) timelines; staff reported they were preparing a draft request to extend the MCP timeline and expected to share that draft with the commission soon. Staff also said Airport Gas consented to assist with installation and sampling for new lysimeters at Statue Park and near the Airport Gas site.

Why it matters: PFAS contamination has ongoing public-health and remediation implications for island wells and soils; the airport’s engineering task order and the decision whether to pursue in-line treatment versus excavation and other remedies will affect schedule, costs and regulatory approvals.