Downingtown district disables drinking water at Brandywine Wallace after PFOA average exceeds Pennsylvania limit

Downingtown Area School District officials told the board that Brandywine Wallace Elementary's well has a running annual average of 14.73 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA, exceeding the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's (PADEP) action level of 14 ppt and triggering required notifications and remedial steps.

District staff member Kelly Harper said the district immediately turned off drinking sources at Brandywine Wallace, supplied bottled water to the school and began required reporting to PADEP after receiving the formal notice. "When we first heard about that March 25, we chose to send out the preliminary communications to all the families that were affected," Harper said. "At that same time, we chose to go turn off all the drinking sources, and we provided bottled waters to the entire school, and we're gonna continue to replenish that as they use the water in the school."

The district presented testing context and options. Harper explained PADEP and other agencies have reduced guideline levels over time: PADEP's PFOA action level is 14 ppt (PFOS is 18 ppt), down from earlier, much higher benchmarks. Harper said Springton Manor Elementary, which also uses a well,…