“GREENWICH — Investigators have found contaminants believed to have leached into the soil from Westchester County Airport in the well water of two Greenwich property owners in the north end of town.
Two of eight private wells sampled in February by a testing company showed elevated levels of a chemical used in a firefighting foam at the airport, according to a notice sent Friday by Greenwich’s Director of Health Caroline Baisley. The residents were notified that they should not drink their well water.
According to the town health department, seven public-water sources were checked in February, and those results came back negative. Additional testing will take place, however, as an extra precaution.
High levels of perfluorooctane substances, known as PFAS, were found in the private wells, exceeding state limits.
PFAS, which went out of production in 2002, were used as an ingredient in extinguishing petroleum-based fires, and the environmental regulators believe the chemical was used during training with an Air National Guard unit formerly based at Westchester County Airport. The chemical has been linked to cancer and other maladies…
The town did not release specifics on the levels of PFAS. Williams said he also did not know whether the water was safe to use for bathing and household purposes, for the affected residents.
The water-contamination issue arose after the Westchester County Commissioner of Public Works announced that a test well on New King Street, not far from the Greenwich border, showed elevated levels of the chemical.
An office complex on New King Street in the town of North Castle, N.Y., begin using bottled water after the announcement was made. A detection of 96 parts per trillion of a perfluorooctane chemical was found in Westchester, exceeding the federal health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.”
Read the full article by Robert Marchant