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Town outlines island‑wide PFAS testing and next steps: landfill, wastewater, wells and treatment pilots
Summary
Town staff and consultants described a multi‑year plan of sampling, new monitoring wells, bench‑scale pilots and near‑term treatment for public water well 15 as part of an ongoing island‑wide PFAS response.
Town staff and consultants provided an extended update on PFAS monitoring and response work at the landfill, in the wastewater system and in municipal wells.
Andrew Shapiro, the town’s environmental contamination administrator, opened the update by summarizing the town’s broader PFAS work: “Since 2020, the town has committed $15,000,000 to addressing PFAS on the island,” he said, and described the program’s scope: sampling in wastewater and landfill areas, private well outreach and coordination with MassDEP.
Andy Miller of CDM Smith described landfill sampling and a multi‑step plan the consultants presented to MassDEP. Miller said the team has completed three rounds of PFAS sampling at existing monitoring wells and surface water stations and intends to establish additional monitoring wells and a field investigation to determine whether PFAS is moving beneath Long Pond toward residences on the pond’s far side. “We expect the study to take anywhere from 1.5 to 2 years,” Miller said, noting the schedule is driven by the desire to observe seasonal trends.
On wastewater, CDM Smith presented a programmatic decision matrix and work that is now entering pilot‑scale testing. The consultants described bench‑scale foam‑fractionation tests that showed high removal for some longer‑chain PFAS and said the next step is expanded on‑site bench testing and full‑scale pilots for centrate and sludge treatment; the goal is to “identify, separate, concentrate and destroy,” as staff summarized the island’s approach.
Water director Mark Willett gave an operational update on municipal well 15, which has been offline for roughly two years. He said a filter system has been built and contracts are nearly final; the town expects to begin on‑site works the week of March 1 and to have the treatment system in place before the summer season if permitting and logistics proceed as planned.
Additional notes: MassDEP planned to issue a report on PFAS sampling at the Fairgrounds campus later in the month; the town is updating public web pages with private well results and a revised fact sheet for homeowners; CDM Smith and Sanborn Head have been engaged to help characterize landfill stockpiles and to review permit compliance; the town is updating worker safety and leachate handling protocols.
Why it matters: PFAS are widespread in island groundwater and wastewater streams; the town’s plan blends monitoring, source identification and pilot‑scale treatment with the objective of reducing PFAS in drinking water and in landfilled residuals.
What’s next: continued semiannual sampling at the landfill and at wastewater stations, construction of new monitoring wells, on‑site bench tests and pilots for wastewater residuals treatment, and near‑term installation of a Well 15 treatment pad and filters pending MassDEP permitting.
