Opinion: Turn off the tap on PFAS

To the editor: Earlier this month Middleboro’s Town Meeting voted to spend $62 million to treat harmful PFAS compounds in our public drinking water, bringing the total the town has appropriated for PFAS treatment to about $100 million. 

This was especially painful in a year with so many layoffs in our town government and schools. But this money is necessary to spend.

The consequences of exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) include cancer, liver damage, immune suppression, reproductive harm, and other impacts. Called “forever chemicals,” these toxic substances do not biodegrade in nature.

No level is considered safe. Once released into the environment, PFAS is extraordinarily difficult and expensive to remove. 

Many residents of Middleboro and most of Lakeville have private wells. These residents must incur considerable additional expense to test for and remove PFAS from their drinking water.

Mitigation is not enough. We must turn off the tap of PFAS coming into our communities.

Shamefully, Massachusetts is the only New England state and in the minority of states nationwide that has no ban on products containing PFAS.

For more than a year our local group has been meeting with and urging all of our state legislators representing Middleboro and Lakeville to pass S.3034/H.4870 An Act to Protect Mass. Public Health from PFAS.

Right now the bill’s fate is largely in the hands of Sen. Michael Roderigues, state Senate Ways and Means chair, who represents Lakeville and points south. He can be reached at Michael.Rodrigues@masenate.gov. His committee must vote favorably on the bill and bring it to the full legislature before July 31, or the bill will be killed.

We all care about safe water, safe products in our homes, and protecting our health. This is not a partisan issue. The time to make our voices heard on this issue to our state legislators is now.

Kimberly French, Board President

Sustainablemiddleborough.org