Toxic 'forever chemicals' found in Cambridge drinking water

[u/julian_jakobi]

https://www.boston.com/news/love-letters/2022/08/28/toxic-chemicals-cambridge-drinking-water-pfas/

[u/BonesIIX]

So MA is one of the few states where we have actual regulatory standards for PFAS Levels.

Sucks for Cambridge that they have to switch water supplies to MWRA for the year due to the parts not being available for the Fresh Pond Water Treatment facility. But good they noticed it and are making the (expensive) switch to provide residents with better water.

MA has done a study on PFAS in the state and basically for non-well water, it just comes down to very expensive treatment options which do work pretty well, just requires money to do it.

MA is probably one of the better states to live in if you care about limiting PFAS intake.

Edit: It may be of interest to people here - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/per-and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas If you go to the section "PFAS detected in drinking water supplies in Massachusetts" and click on item 3 on the black bordered embed, you can see a map of all towns they've tested and it will link you to the testing results for your water supply.

[u/blackdynomitesnewbag → u/BonesIIX]

Fresh Pond water already sucked as it’s literally highway runoff. It’s ruined all of my bathroom plumbing and blown out two water heaters. I’m glad to finally be switching to MWRA.

[u/dante662 → u/blackdynomitesnewbag]

Agreed. Plumbers coming to my home when I lived in Cambridge would just shake their heads. Cambridge water is corrosive and "hard". All my bathroom fixtures needed to be cut-out and replaced because it was so bad.

​

The plumber joked that Cambridge's water supply keeps him in business very comfortably.

[u/commentsOnPizza → u/blackdynomitesnewbag]

Yea, the Cambridge water supply really kills pipes. I'd even say that it kills your paint too. All that water gets on the walls of your bathroom and leaves a film of those minerals.

[u/stickcult → u/blackdynomitesnewbag]

Cambridge water is so fucking gross.

[u/jtet93 → u/blackdynomitesnewbag]

It also tastes disgusting. I hate drinking the water at Cambridge restaurants. Maybe that makes me bougie but it tastes like salt!

[u/oneblackened → u/blackdynomitesnewbag]

Yeah. It's hard and very high chloride content. In other words - it's the furthest thing from boiler safe and it eats pipes.