$20M Brunswick water treatment plant ramps up to address PFAS contamination

A $20 million water treatment facility in Brunswick has officially ramped up operations after years of planning.

Thursday afternoon the Brunswick & Topsham Water District hosted an open house for its New Jordan Avenue PFAS Treatment Facility

Brunswick & Topsham Water District General Manager Craig Douglas said the district’s testing for PFAS has evolved over time as detection methods and regulatory standards changed.

“When we tested for PFAS back in 2016 we didn’t find any but as the detection limits improved, we did find some in 2021 and as the regulatory limits dropped it became apparent that we needed treatment here,” Douglas said.

Experts say PFAS contamination around Brunswick is tied to Navy activities at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, which for years used firefighting foam in hangars that contained PFAS. A 2024 firefighting foam spill later created an environmental emergency.

The Navy has since contracted with the water district as part of its federal environmental cleanup responsibilities. Douglas said the Navy has covered the costs associated with the project.

Douglas said the facility’s return to operation is important for the district’s roughly 7,500 customers and helps relieve pressure on its other two treatment plants.

“It feels wonderful to see this open because it’s been putting a lot of stress on our other treatment plants. So, to have this treatment plant back in operation is super important for our customers and the community,” he said.

The removal of PFAS from the water involves multiple steps.

According to B&T water district experts the first step in the treatment process is GSF. These filters function to remove iron and manganese from the water using a graded sand that is coated with manganese dioxide. Iron and manganese are removed in these vessels with the help of sodium hypochlorite.

The water than flows through Granular Activated Carbon trains the water is split between two GAC contactor trains that remove PFAS.

Next, water is treated through the anion exchange train these vessels are capable of removing even more PFAS molecules that scientists are working to measure.

The water is than sent through an aeration process.

The purpose of this step is to adjust the water’s pH. HEPA filtered air is supplied by blowers into the aeration units. The air is sent from the bottom of the units up to the surface in the form of bubbles. These bubbles allow carbon dioxide to leave the water, which makes the water’s pH a neutral level of 7.

After this, the water is dropped into Clearwell tanks to give the water enough contact time with the sodium hypochlorite so that any disease-causing organisms in the water can be killed before the water is pumped out.

Lastly, The finished water pumps supply water to the distribution system from the Clearwell tank.

“We feel very fortunate that the Navy has stepped up and taken the responsibility,” Doulas said.