← Back to Home

Airport files its action plan for PFAS

A consultant for Martha’s Vineyard Airport has filed the immediate response action plan with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for contaminants found in drinking water at properties located south of the airport.
The plan calls for installing point-of-entry, carbon-filter systems to remove the contaminants from as many as 26 wells, including six that are considered an imminent hazard to the people living at the addresses.
Though no actual addresses are used in the report, Tetra Tech, the environmental consultant, has said the highest concentrations were in the vicinity of Edgartown–West Tisbury Road.
The report is nearly 2,000 pages, is posted on the state Energy & Environmental Affairs website, and is expected to be posted on the airport’s website.
“The reported concentrations of the five target PFAS compounds in private well water from six of the 100 private wells sampled were at concentrations that represent a potential [imminent hazard] to human health due to consumption of the water,” the report states.
The report details the timeline of the testing, which began last March with Ron Myrick, an engineer with Tetra Tech, pitching to airport officials to test for PFAS on airport property ahead of MassDEP setting its guidelines.
One point-of-entry system has already been installed, and has been effective in removing PFAS from the water.
Quarterly testing of the systems will be done.
The systems will be installed at the five remaining addresses where an imminent hazard has been identified.
In the interim, all of those addresses are being supplied bottled water.

Learn More