PFAS

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is warning against eating fish from five Cape Cod ponds due to contamination with PFAS chemicals.

Chatham voters approved nearly 6 million dollars at a Special Town Meeting Sunday to upgrade the town's water system. Three articles passed unanimously in about 15 minutes.

The study is expected to help establish whether PFAS are reaching private wells by traveling through septic systems and where concentrations of PFAS are the highest in drinking water on the Cape.

Early results of an investigation for PFAS in private wells across Massachusetts found detectable levels of the emerging contaminate in every town selected in the local region: from Truro to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast.

Hyannis, Chatham, Mashpee, Falmouth are among the towns that have had to temporarily close down wells because of PFAS contamination.

An agreement has been reached that will have the Air Force pay for the cleanup of three wells in Mashpee and one in Falmouth that have been contaminated with PFAS and other chemicals coming from Joint Base Cape Cod.

PFAS have been linked to kidney, testicular, prostate, breast, liver, and ovarian cancers, among other diseases. Studies show firefighters generally have higher levels of PFAS in their blood than the general public.

Fire departments use foam that has PFAS in it to put out some fires, yet they fear the health effects of exposure

The five-year study, being conducted by the Silent Spring Institute, is focusing on two communities in Eastern Massachusetts—Hyannis and the town of Ayer—where public drinking water supplies were contaminated by chemicals known as PFAS contained in firefighting foams used at nearby fire training areas.