The loan will fund ion exchange and carbon filtration systems on four public drinking water wells with PFAS contamination under current environmental health advisory levels.
Warrington supervisors unanimously approved a $5.3 million PennVest loan funding filter installations on four public drinking water wells contaminated with perfluorinated compounds.
Effectively a drawdown loan, the township’s water and sewer department will install ion exchange and granular activated carbon filtration systems at the public wells currently testing under a 70 parts per trillion health advisory level for PFAS contamination set by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2016.
The township is currently purchasing all of its drinking water, approximately 1.7 million gallons per day, from North Wales Water Authority, which provides water with no detectable levels of PFAS.
Warrington, Warminster and Horsham have been dealing with drinking water contamination linked to the use of firefighting foams by the U.S. military at nearby former and active bases.
While the township will have to foot the bill for these filtration systems for the foreseeable future, township Director of Water and Sewer Christian Jones also received approval from supervisors Tuesday to apply for a state Department of Community and Economic Development grant that could fund about half the total PennVest loan.
Jones said the township is applying for the total $5.13 million dollars, but said during his presentation that the awarded amount would likely be closer to $3 million.
While the township is only two years into a 10-year purchase agreement with North Wales, adding the filtration systems could allow the township to reduce its daily water needs in the future.
Before the PFAS contamination issues, supervisor Vice Chairmain Fred Gaines said the township had purchased an estimated 700,000 gallons of water per day from North Wales.
Gaines added that, while the township will likely always have some reliance on North Wales, the PennVest loan and DCED grant were good investments for Warrington’s water system.