Read the full article by John Hilliard (The Boston Globe)
“The city of Cambridge returned to using its municipal water supply ahead of schedule Saturday, nearly three months after it switched to MWRA service following the detection of toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in the city’s drinking water.
In late August, Cambridge officials said they would rely on Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s system after they detected levels of six PFAS chemicals, which were above the state limits for drinking water.
PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, resist water, oil, heat, and grease. They’ve been used for decades in consumer products and industrial applications — but are linked to health risks such as cancer.
In Cambridge the decision to use the state water supply was done out of an abundance of caution and had originally been expected to continue through December, officials have said
The city announced early Saturday afternoon in a Twitter post that it had switched back to its own supply about a month ahead of schedule.
Earlier in November, the city began installing new Granular Activated Carbon filter media at Cambridge’s Walter J. Sullivan Water Purification Facility, the city said in a statement released Thursday.
As a result, current PFAS levels in the city-owned reservoirs are ‘now equivalent to’ those found in MWRA water, the statement said. The city expects continued reductions in PFAS levels as the new filter media is installed in the remaining filters.” …