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Newly released public water supply data documents high levels of contamination in school water supplies across Maine

Portland, Maine – Recently, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released its most recent data on PFAS contamination in community water supplies. The test results demonstrate that the public health impacts of PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ stretch far beyond the sludge-impacted farmlands currently being investigated by the Maine Department of Environmental Quality. 

According to the newly reported data from DHHS, at least 25 schools, colleges, and day care facilities across 10 Maine counties have documented PFAS levels exceeding Maine’s interim drinking water standard of 20 parts per trillion (ppt). Defend calculated that in total, 6,650 currently enrolled children and young adults have been impacted by the contamination at those 25 schools in addition to countless alumni.

In the case of five public schools in York county and Hancock county, drinking water levels tested in the hundreds, according to the state’s data. In Buxton, near Portland, Bonny Eagle Middle School’s water tested at 822 ppt, more than 40 times higher than the interim standard. At Deer Isle-Stonington High School, an October water sample tested at 421 ppt.

School and state officials have been prompt in responding to the contamination in many cases, ordering temporary bottled water supplies and investing in long term carbon filtration systems.  But it’s important to note that in June of 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency published interim lifetime health advisories for PFOA and PFOS at .004 and .02 parts per trillion respectively, based on the chemicals’ health impacts, including impacts on children’s immune systems, suggesting that any detectable level of the chemicals in drinking water is too much. And the state’s data shows that an additional 18 schools tested between 2 ppt and 20 ppt, leaving approximately 3,000 enrolled students unprotected by Maine’s current drinking water regulations. 

“It’s devastating to learn that children in Maine have been drinking contaminated water,” says Sarah Woodbury, Defend Our Health’s director of advocacy. “We need to do everything we can to protect the health of Maine’s children. Updated lifetime health advisories from the EPA for PFOA and PFOS sets those levels much lower than our current drinking water standards. We need to take those health advisories into consideration and update our drinking water standards accordingly.”

 “We need more well water testing available from the state,” says Sergio Cahueque, Defend Our Health’s organizer. “We now know that the schools’ water is contaminated, but we don’t know how many residential wells also have elevated levels of ‘forever chemicals’ in these communities. Children can still be exposed to these toxic chemicals through their water at home, and the school contamination shows us that we’re failing to predict where PFAS will show up. Maine should be ensuring that everyone in the state has access to well water testing for PFAS, regardless of their income level. We need to subsidize the tests for low-income families throughout the state, just like we do for radon and arsenic.”

As of the December publication of the public water supply data, Maine DHHS was awaiting test results from an additional 99 schools and day care facilities.