LITCHFIELD – Concerned residents of southern New Hampshire towns, worried about contamination of local drinking water supplies by a potentially carcinogenic chemical, gathered in near silence on Thursday, following the announcement that approximately 400 affected properties would be issued bottled water purchased by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics.

“This is not to scare people,” said Clark Freise, Department of Environmental Services assistant commissioner and Litchfield resident. “We believe we are being unduly precautious, if anything, in doing this … we have stopped guessing on anything with this. We have been surprised so much with some of the data, you have certain expectations, but the data has been surprising.” …