Project Description

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sampled groundwater wells near the closed ChemFab manufacturing building on Water Street in North Bennington. The initial five private drinking wells tested in North Bennington showed significant perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) concentrations. The sampling area was quickly increased to a greater than one-and-a-half-mile radius around the former ChemFab facility, and over 160 wells were shown to have PFOA concentrations over the Vermont Department of Health’s drinking water health advisory of 20 parts per trillion (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.