Following the closure of a Teflon-coating plant, it was found that 60-70 residential wells in North Bennington had been contaminated with Perfluorooctanoic acids (PFOAs), ranging everywhere from trace amounts to a thousand parts per trillion (ppt)—Vermont’s standard is not to exceed 20 ppt.
OCE produced a preliminary engineering report that recommended the Village abandon a number of the private wells and connect these households to the existing public community water system. The Village followed OCE’s recommendations and brought on OCE to design the abandonment of 55 contaminated wells, over four miles of new distribution lines, two miles of new service lines, and Point of Use Treatment Systems when other options were not available.
The work was recently completed, and Governor Phil Scott was on hand to celebrate, saying, “I’m impressed by the magnitude of the project and how quickly it was completed.”
The project was featured on VTDigger, and you can read the entire article here: “Hundreds of Bennington-area residents connected to municipal water in $48.7 million response to PFOA contamination.”
Photo by Tiffany Tan/VTDigger, used with permission.