Environmental testing from water utility Aqua PA shows high levels of PFAS chemicals in Park Creek and the Little Neshaminy Creek, and smaller elevations in the main Neshaminy Creek.
The chemicals were used in firefighting foams at area military bases, and were found in 2014 and 2016 to have contaminated area water supplies at dangerous levels. Although drinking water exposures have largely been cut off, PFAS environmental contamination continues, causing ongoing concern about potential additional exposure routes such as fish consumption.
For the past several years, private water utility Aqua PA has taken more than 4,000 water samples from a variety of Bucks and Montgomery County waterways, in order to analyze the amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The chemicals were used in firefighting foams at area military bases, and were found in 2014 and 2016 to have contaminated area water supplies at dangerous levels. Although drinking water exposures have largely been cut off, PFAS environmental contamination continues, causing ongoing concern about potential additional exposure routes such as fish consumption.
PFAS contamination, Mapped
Explore this map to see the level of PFAS chemicals in waterways near Bucks and Montgomery County military bases. The map can be sorted by chemical type, and displays the average level of PFAS found at that location over the past several years, as well as the highest level ever found.
Click here to view the map of the test sites and results.
A summary of results
Aqua PA representatives have publicly said they are concerned that PFAS coming from the former Naval Air Station Joint-Reserve Base Willow Grove, along with the Horsham Air Guard Station, could be reaching the company’s water supplies. Last year, Aqua shut down several drinking water wells in the Upper Dublin area, and results have also shown varying levels of PFAS at the company’s water treatment plant along the Neshaminy Creek in Middletown. However, levels there have never eclipsed a 70 parts-per-trillion (ppt) health advisory level set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Due to the concerns, Aqua invested in its own PFAS testing equipment and has regularly sampled for the chemicals since late 2016. The results shown here were included in a data set Aqua gave to the EPA earlier this year. Philadelphia-based environmental attorney Mark Cuker then obtained them through open records requests, and provided them to this news organization.
The results show the highest levels of contamination occurring at the northern boundary of the Horsham Air Guard Station, where a storm water basin discharges into the area of Graeme Park. Levels there reached as high as 7,500 ppt for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanic acid (PFOA) in a water tributary in Graeme Park. Levels there typically average about 3,200 ppt, the data show.
Runoff from the base appears to add considerably to Park Creek’s PFAS levels. Near Kohler Park along Horsham Road, just upstream of the base, PFOS and PFOA levels average about 19.7 ppt. Halfway along the north boundary of the base, the levels increase to 103.5 ppt in Park Creek, and then to 283 ppt after the basin discharge, just before the creek runs into the Little Neshaminy Creek near Kansas Road.
Results appear to show the same effect happening in the Little Neshaminy. Sampling taken just before Park Creek shows the Little Neshaminy averages just 23 ppt for PFOS and PFOA. But further downstream near Valley Road, after Park Creek enters, the level raises to 182 ppt.
The average remains as high as 97 ppt several miles downstream, where the Little Neshaminy enters the main Neshaminy Creek in Wrightstown. Levels then begin slowly falling to averages of 44 ppt near Route 232, 43 ppt just southwest of Core Creek Park, and 35 ppt at Aqua’s plant near Neshaminy High School.
There are no federal or state regulations for PFAS in “surface” waterways, such as the Park and Neshaminy creeks. However, last year the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection released fish consumption advisories after studying PFAS in waterways and fish tissue.
Among the various fish advisories put in place was one for Little Pine Lake near Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The highest PFOS sample found there was 100 ppt, which lead to a level of fish contamination that resulted in a consumption limit of just one largemouth bass and yellow perch a year.
*Original article online at https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/20190731/map-chemical-contamination-in-park-creek-little-neshaminy
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