Keating: Air Force agrees to pay for PFAS cleanups in Mashpee and Falmouth wells

MASHPEE — Is there no good news for the Cape Cod drinking water supply and those who pay to use it?

Persistent drought and what feels like the ubiquitous presence of the "forever chemicals" and potential carcinogen PFAS have plagued Cape Cod water systems for the past year. 

But thanks to work by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., Mashpee received the positive news Friday that the U.S. Air Force will pay to clean up PFAS in two public drinking water wells and private wells, plus a third public drinking water well in Falmouth.

"They will pay for all of it," Keating said in an interview Friday.

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Keating said the Air Force did not dispute the plume was coming from Joint Base Cape Cod and had been tracking it. He said he  received assurances from Mark Correll, Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Infrastructure, that the installation of filters in wells would be covered financially.

"This is great for taxpayers. It's awesome. We can get the wells back online fast and it won't cost taxpayers $6 to $8 million," Mashpee Water District Manager Andrew Marks said. 

Marks said the Air Force had been doing a great job of tracking a plume in Mashpee and Falmouth from Joint Base Cape Cod that originated from firefighting foam from the base. Five years ago, the water department had to take the Mashpee Village well offline because it tested above the federal standard of 70 parts per trillion of PFAS. 

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PFAS is short for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl, a group of 9,000 chemical compounds that are used as heat-, oil- and water-resistant coatings in many consumer products, including cookware, food and product packaging, water and fire-resistant fabrics, films, wires and firefighting foam. 

Their chemical bonds are so strong and stable that they don't break down in nature and are known as "forever chemicals" that bioaccumulate in human tissues. They have been linked to testicular, kidney and other cancers, liver damage, higher levels of cholesterol, reduced response to vaccines and a host of other maladies.

Marks said the Air Force funded the purchase and installation of filters that remove the chemicals at the Mashpee Village well. Officials also warned the water district that the plume might also impact wells on Turner Road.

Aware that the state Department of Environmental Protection was getting close to issuing new PFAS standards that expanded the number of chemicals tested and lowered the limit to 20 parts per trillion, the Mashpee water district tested its wells and found that two drinking water wells tested above the new state limit, with 23 and 35 parts per trillion. 

The problem was that because the state and federal standards are different, the Air Force initially balked at paying unless levels rose above the federal 70 parts per trillion threshold, Marks said. With three wells out of commission and an ongoing drought affecting water levels, the remaining wells, which tested as having either no PFAS or background levels, were sorely taxed by summer demand.

"We've been barely making it through the last two summers with the Turner Road wells down," Marks said.

Voters authorized $8.4 million to design, manufacture and install PFAS filters, he said. The money also went towards removing iron and manganese, which could have clogged the PFAS filters.

But Marks said he believes that test results from a pilot study will show that iron and manganese levels are low enough that they won't need to install a removal system. That could drop the price tag to around $6 million. 

An important advantage to the federal government agreeing to do the job is that it avoids the state permitting process, which can take a year, said Marks. He believes work on the filters could begin within a couple of weeks. 

Keating said he was able to get the Air Force to agree that if levels anywhere in the plume are above the federal threshold, all other wells would be covered. 

"Even if one tipped it, the entire plume is covered," Keating said. They also agreed to cover remediation for several affected private wells. The money was already appropriated as part of a national defense authorization, Keating said.

There was some concern the authorization ran out in a couple of weeks when the federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30, but Keating said the funding will roll over into the next fiscal year. 

"I got an assistant secretary that listened," Keating said. "He was earnest in trying to see how they could move this thing forward."

Marks said Keating and his local staff did the hard work it took to overcome bureaucratic red tape.

"He made those major issues go away," Marks said.

Contact Doug Fraser at dfraser@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter:@dougfrasercct.