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SummerFun concert series kicks off

By Staff | Jun 29, 2016

MERRIMACK – A small crowd of residents gathered Wednesday at the James Mastricola Upper Elementary School to hear the report on the latest soil samples, part of the ongoing investigation into chemical contamination of town water supplies, have come back with low contaminant levels.

Department of Environmental Services spokesperson Jim Martin said the meeting, the second held in Merrimack following the discovery of perfluorinated chemicals – or PFCs – in municipal water, was scheduled to provide concerned residents with the newest information available.

While the presence of perfluorooctanoic acid – PFOA – and perfluorooctane sulfonate – PFOS – in water supplies has been revealed at several sites by dozens of rounds of testing and reporting, the newest information provided during the meeting concerned the presence of the chemicals in the soil at sites serving populations deemed sensitive.

“As of this morning we got the complete soil sample results for the sensitive receptors,” Martin said. “So that’s schools, daycares and playgrounds. The good news is that all of the soil samples we have received are really low. It’s a magnitude below what our standard is.”

Martin said the highest soil sample results returned still fell below the state standard by a factor of 10.

DES staff also provided an update on a recently revealed discrepancy in the water sample results being returned by the two labs contracted to provide testing for PFOA and PFOS.

On June 24, DES said in a PFC investigation update posted to their website that the two labs conducting the water sample testing had shown different results for the same water samples. DES representatives stressed that in any case they would be using the data that showed the highest concentration of PFCs in their decision making processes.

Department of Health and Human Services staff members also noted that blood testing would be provided to those residents concerned about their blood levels and who live on streets with wells that have tested above the state’s 70 parts-per-trillion ambient groundwater quality standard.

Tracy Carl, a resident who lives just outside the investigation area, said that she was attending the meeting because she’s concerned about her family.

“I’ve been following this from the beginning,” she said. “My family has had health problems that started when we moved to Merrimack nine years ago. I want to know more about blood testing.”

For more information about the ongoing investigation into PFCs in southern New Hampshire, visit des.nh.gov.

Matthew Medsger can be reached at 594-6531, mmedsger@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_MattM.

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