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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

State To Extend Search For PFAS Contamination Around Airport In Clarendon

Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport.
Nina Keck
/
VPR
In a press release, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation said the state will extend its area of concern as it tries to determine how far PFAS contamination has spread in the vicinity of the Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport.

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation will continue testing drinking water near the Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport in Clarendon.In a release issued Wednesday, it was noted that state scientists tested 35 water supplies near the airport and found traces of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at 17 sites.

Five of those water supplies had samples exceeding the Vermont Department of Health Drinking Water Health Advisory of 20 parts per trillion.

PFAS include the chemical PFOA, which has turned up in more than 200 wells in Bennington.

The Department of Environmental Conservation now says it will extend its area of concern around the airport to determine how far the contamination has spread.

More from VPR: Clarendon, Vt., Businesses React To Contaminated Water Notice From State [April 5]

The state doesn’t know how the wells in Clarendon were contaminated. But PFAS was used in firefighting foam and communities across the country are now finding the dangerous chemical in water supplies near airports.

According to the release, bottled water is being offered to anyone who has contaminated water, and if water supplies exceed the health advisory, users can have a filter system installed to remove the PFAS from the water.

The state has already installed two residential Point Of Entry Treatment (POET) filter systems.

Howard Weiss-Tisman is Vermont Public’s southern Vermont reporter, but sometimes the story takes him to other parts of the state.
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