10 water systems Saratoga, Warren counties have eleveated PFAS levels - The Post Star

10 water systems Saratoga, Warren counties have eleveated PFAS levels

About 7,000 local residents are served by drinking water systems that use source water contaminated by elevated levels of the so-called “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, according to newly released state data. Those systems, 10 of them, are found across Saratoga and Warren counties and contain one of the two most commonly used PFAS chemicals — PFOS and PFOA — at a level that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now says is unsafe.

None of the water systems in Washington County detected PFAS at that threshold in 2022.

The water systems testing positive for elevated PFAS levels, according to 2022 New York State Department of Health data, are: Alpine Estates, Northwood Water Company, Kayadeross Acres, Middle Grove Mobile Park, Whispering Pines Mobile Estates, the Village of South Glens Falls, Loughberry Mobile Home Park, London Square Apartments, Diamond Point Water District, and Colebrook Trailer Court.

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Earlier this year, South Glens Falls installed treatment, known as granular activated charcoal filter technology, to help eliminate PFAS from its system. But water systems are not required to treat for PFAS unless the water reaches a certain threshold, known as a maximum contaminant level. Systems have to test positive for either one of the chemicals at 10 parts per trillion before treatment is required.

Just one water system in Saratoga, Warren or Washington counties met that threshold where treatment is required: Alpine Estates.

That neighborhood, which serves just 40 people, tested positive for PFOS at an average level of 10.25 parts per trillion and PFOA at an average level of 15 parts per trillion in 2022. That means Alpine Estates is required to notify residents and remediate the issue.

The other neighborhoods in the area that tested positive for one or both of the two regulated PFAS chemicals aren’t required to pursue treatment under current New York state law. A proposed federal EPA rule would require systems to treat the water if either of the chemicals is present at just 4 parts per trillion.

The largest water systems in this area did not appear to have much, if any, PFAS contamination detected in 2022.

Clifton Park Water Authority, which serves 35,000 people in Saratoga County, detected an average level of 1.1 part per trillion of PFOS last year and did not detect PFOA at all. The city of Glens Falls, which serves 14,000, did not detect PFOS but detected an average of 2.8 parts per trillion of PFOA, according to the data.

Other relatively large systems that did not detect either of the two regulated PFAS chemicals in 2022 include: Halfmoon Water District, Burnt Hills-Ballston LK WD, Wilton Water & Sewer Authority, Saratoga Water Services, Ballston Spa Village, Moreau Water District #2 (Queensbury), Mechanicville City, and Corinth Village.