Read the full article by Kaitlyn Budion (Central Maine)
“The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has expanded its investigation of so-called ‘forever chemicals’ contaminating water wells in Fairfield to also include areas in Benton and Unity Township.
The state department has sampled 28 water supplies in Benton and found 14 had levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory, according to David Madore, deputy commissioner and director of communications for the agency.
‘The department is receiving and reviewing data from water supply sampling conducted over the last few weeks,’ the environmental department said in a statement. ‘Homeowners are being notified of the results as soon as possible, and, where needed, bottled water is provided. We continue to identify water supplies at risk of PFAS impacts, and our next rounds of sampling are scheduled for the second half of May.’
The department has sampled 15 water supplies in Unity Township and found five of those to be above the health advisory. Even so, the investigation has largely been focused on Fairfield, where the department has conducted several rounds of testing for five different kinds of PFAS. In total, officials have tested 214 residential wells and found 63 to have levels higher than the health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion — that’s roughly 29% of wells tested…”