Read the full article by Tiffany Tan (VTDigger)
“The state’s latest round of testing in Bennington has shown that nearly 20 home water wells contain elevated levels of industrial contaminants, leading investigators to further expand the test area in town.
Among the 83 local wells tested between June and December 2023, 19 contained PFAS levels beyond the state’s safety limit of 20 parts per trillion for drinking water, said Richard Spiese, an environmental analyst at the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.
The three wells with the highest recorded amounts of PFAS showed levels between 47 ppt and 54 ppt, he said. Those wells are located along Hickory Hill Road, among the Bennington neighborhoods south of Route 9 that were the subject of the testing.
Another 43 wells registered PFAS — perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — within Vermont’s safety limit, Spiese said. The rest showed non-detectable levels of the synthetic group of chemicals, which has about 15,000 variations used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial processes.” …