originally posted on April 14, 2016

Test results from near the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Facility in Merrimack revealed perfluorooctanoic acid (pfoas) levels below the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards.

Soil testing will be conducted next week within a one-mile radius of the plant, an area that encompasses schools and playgrounds.

Ground water has been tested, but only in wells created for the investigation.

State officials announced their plans to test private wells in a one-and-a-half-mile radius. This area includes parts of Merrimack, Bedford, Litchfield and Manchester.

The tests are being expanded after earlier tests revealed the plastics plant had been contaminating local water sources.