WVU in the News: Pa. waited more than 2 years to test wells after finding nearby contamination. Now this neighborhood wants answers.

A class of synthetic chemicals identified in 2019 near Penn State University’s airport has fouled tap water in an adjacent neighborhood, and families there are now demanding to know why it took environmental officials so long to test their wells, which they use for bathing, cooking, and drinking.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection began providing bottled water this year to at least nine households where well water registered above a longstanding federal health advisory threshold for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” for their inability to break down naturally.

Airport workers have used a specialized foam — aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF — to test firefighting equipment twice a year, in line with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, according to the report.

PFAS in such foams help suppress fire, but they have become a frequent source of contamination. In fact, airports and military defense facilities are the most common sources of PFAS pollution, said Dr. Ducatman, the PFAS researcher and a professor emeritus in public health at West Virginia University.

“But they are generally not the worst sources,” Dr. Ducatman said. “Industrial sources, where they exist, can be worse. And Pennsylvania certainly is an industrial state.”

Read more from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.