DOUGLASS (Mont.) — It was revealed during Wednesday’s meeting about groundwater contamination from the Boyertown Landfill that the tap water at Gilbertsville Elementary School exceeds the federal safety limit for a set of toxic chemicals called PFAS.
Located on Congo Road, Gilbertsville Elementary School is one mile away from the northern boundary of the landfill.
PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) are a large group of thousands of man-made chemicals, known as “forever chemicals,” used since the 1950s for their resistance to heat, water, grease, and stains in products like non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, food packaging, and firefighting foams, but they are persistent and can build up in the environment and human bodies, posing recently realized health risks.
Wednesday night, officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held a meeting with more than 100 people to discuss the PFAS contamination of private wells in homes surrounding the 30-acre landfill.
The DEP has been providing bottled water and in-home filters to homes that test above the federal safety standard of 4 parts per trillion. The state has set a minimum health standard for PFAS of between 14 and 18 parts per trillion.
Although the water at Gilbertsville Elementary School has averaged 6.7 parts per trillion, above the more protective federal safety standard, the DEP will not be providing any water filters there.
That is because DEP’s actions are focused on private wells, and the water at Gilbertsville Elementary comes from a well that is part of a small public water system. Public water systems are required to remediate such contamination.
Alison Moyer, communications specialist with the Boyertown Area School District, confirmed the 6.7 parts per trillion levels of contamination and replied that “within PA, entities have until 2029 to meet the 4.0 ppt federal regulations.”
However, the Trump administration recently extended the federal deadline by which public water systems are required to meet that standard from 2029 to 2031, Joseph Vitello, remedial project manager for the EPA, told Wednesday night’s crowd.
“BASD and its board will continue to work in incorporating systems that will bring all district drinking water systems within the federal levels as required,” Moyer wrote to MediaNews Group in response to a query.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to:
• Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women.
• Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
• Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.
• Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine response.
• Interference with the body’s natural hormones.
• Increased cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity.
• Pregnant and lactating women tend to drink more water per pound of body weight than the average person, and as a result, they may have higher PFAS exposure compared to other people if it is present in their drinking water.
• Breast milk from mothers with PFAS in their blood and formula made with water containing PFAS can expose infants to PFAS, and it may also be possible for children to be exposed in utero during pregnancy. Scientists continue to do research in this area. Based on current science, the benefits of breastfeeding appear to outweigh the risks for infants exposed to PFAS in breast milk.
• Because children are still developing, they may be more sensitive to the harmful effects of chemicals such as PFAS. They can also be exposed more than adults because children drink more water, eat more food, and breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults, which can increase their exposure to PFAS, according to the EPA.
The matter came up when Boyertown School Board member Roger Updegrove announced it during Wednesday’s meeting. He said some results of the school’s water have shown levels as high as “over 14” parts per trillion, more than three times the federal safety limit.
In the wake of his comments, several parents suggested the DEP should act quickly to improve the school’s water quality. “I mean, these are our kids we’re talking about,” one parent said.
Colin Wade, a regional project officer with DEP’s Hazardous Sites Clean Up Act Program, said DEP is aware of the results at the school, but that it is the responsibility of the water system supplying the school to remediate the problem.
“We’re focused on private wells,” he said.
So far, the DEP has been testing in an ever-expanding radius around the landfill, which is located between Jackson, Merkel and Gilbertsville roads. The current perimeter of testing is about a half mile, he said. However, “we don’t yet know the full extent of the contamination,” Wade said Wednesday.
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