City staff told the Woburn City Council on Jan. 7 that quarterly PFAS monitoring at Horn Pond produced averages below the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection standard in 2024 and that the city has moved forward with construction contracting for a new PFAS treatment facility.

Mayor Michael P. Concannon introduced the item and turned the update over to Carol Rigo, who presented monitoring data dating to 2019. “The average of all of this data since 2019 is 17.3 parts per trillion, and, as you know, the state promulgated regulations for PFAS of a standard of 20 parts per trillion,” Rigo said. She told the council the 2024 quarterly averages ranged from roughly 12 to 17 parts per trillion and that there were no exceedances under the state standard during 2024.

Rigo summarized the procurement and contracting process for the Horn Pond PFAS treatment plant. The low bidder for construction is RH White Companies of Auburn, Massachusetts, the same general contractor that completed an earlier Horn Pond upgrade, she said. A bid protest filed in June was denied by the attorney general’s office, Rigo said, and the contract became effective Dec. 17, 2024. Rigo said the contract has a 590‑day duration and that the city is projecting substantial completion roughly in July following mobilization and construction milestones.

City staff described the project’s funding as a mix of state and federal assistance. Rigo said the total project cost presented to the council was “just under $23 million,” with roughly $22 million to be financed through the Massachusetts State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan program administered by the Clean Water Trust and a federal STAG grant to fund a portion of the work. She said the city expects some principal forgiveness on the SRF loan but that the final forgiveness amount had not been determined. Rigo also identified the owner’s project manager costs as “just under $260,000.” According to Rigo, the construction contract’s low bid for the work at Horn Pond was presented in the meeting materials as approximately $19.04 million.

Responding to council questions, Rigo noted that federal EPA drinking-water limits finalized after the state standard have different (and in some instances lower) numeric proposals; she said Horn Pond’s current annual average would exceed the new federal numeric values for certain legacy compounds. The council was told the Clean Water Trust board is scheduled to vote the next day to approve the SRF financing agreement so the loan can be issued.

Councilors thanked staff for the update; a motion to place the communication on file passed. The council received the PFAS update and voted to place the matter on file.