Officials with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) were on hand Thursday night in Blades for a public meeting to provide an update on the areas water supply that was found to be contaminated by perfluorinated compounds (PFCs).
While the town of Blades’ water was considered safe to consume, sampling of private wells in the vicinity was continuing, according to DNREC.
Of the 44 private wells sampled so far by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), three have returned PFCs above the EPA’s health advisory of 70 parts per trillion (70/ppt).
Homeowners for all three wells were notified by DNREC and the Division of Public Health (DPH), and were provided with home carbon filtration systems for their water supply.
DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin said plating facilities that operated in the area may have used PFCs; however, he declined to name which ones, and cited an ongoing investigation.
"So, from a cautious standpoint, we decided to test the wells in Blades and we got those results back on February 7th.
What I can tell you is we don’t know what caused it.
We know the sources, we just, from a targeting standpoint knew that plating operations tended historically to use PFCs in their operations."
Those filtration systems would be available to those residences both above, and just below, the EPA’s health advisory.
Both DNREC and DPH, in conjunction with the town of Blades, would continue to provide alternative water to any area residents who requested it.