Kennebunkport select board members learned that no additional residential properties near the old Beachwood Avenue landfill have tested above the state’s interim limit for PFAS chemicals, leaving the total that did exceed the limit at at one private home – and the well at the highway garage. Both are to be filtered. Michael G. Seamans photo/Morning Sentinel
KENNEBUNKPORT – Select board members received some good news delivered to five homeowners in the vicinity of an old landfill – their water wells have tested under the interim state limit for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water.
In March, the board learned that well water testing at nine residential properties around the watershed near the closed landfill at 105 Beachwood Ave. turned up one well that exceeded the limit and at that time, the Public Works Department was awaiting tests on the five additional residential wells.
The highest PFAS content in the five residential properties was 9 parts per trillion, Public Works Director Chris Simeoni told the board on April 14. The interim limit set by the state is more than twice that, at 20 parts per trillion.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection had asked the town to perform PFAS testing at the former landfill in response to concerns nationwide about the chemicals. The landfill tests showed PFAS exceeded the state’s interim limits, and so the town was required to conduct tests on residential water wells within 1,000 feet of the watershed near the landfill.
Simeoni said a filtration device had been installed in the one property that had tested above the limit, and the water will be the tested quarterly to ensure filters are working properly. Filtration will also be installed at the highway garage, where PFAS interim limits have also been exceeded.
He said all the information will be sent to the Maine Geological Survey, who will determine if additional sampling is required.
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