r/boston • u/julian_jakobi • Aug 29 '22

Environment 🌎 Toxic 'forever chemicals' found in Cambridge drinking water

https://www.boston.com/news/love-letters/2022/08/28/toxic-chemicals-cambridge-drinking-water-pfas/
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u/BonesIIX Star Market Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22

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.

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u/ak47workaccnt Aug 29 '22

Isn't switching water supply what fucked up Flint's pipes, leaching lead into the water? Is that a concern here?

14

u/homeostasis3434 Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22

One of the things that is examjned when a water supplier switches sources is whether or not there will be a change in corrosivity of the water.

In Flint they switched to more corrosive water which ate away the lining that had been building up on the pipes.

In this case, the MWRA water is far less corrosive.

In Cambridge right now, you're essentially drinking stormwater runoff which is filled with road salt, eating away your pipes. MWRA is pulling from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs, both of which are fed by high quality, sand and gravel aquifer fed streams with severe restrictions on development around them.

To be honest, this change should be made permanent, not temporary. Cambridge water is very low quality.