WOBURN, MA — The city of Woburn recently noted a water bottle filling station and a series of planned water rebates as it experiences a “small uptick” in the amount of PFAS chemicals detected in city water.

The water bottle filling station is located at the Woburn Senior Center at 144 School Street in Woburn. Rebates will be available to anyone in a “sensitive population,” which includes pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants and people diagnosed by their health care provider to have a compromised immune system. Water bill rebates will be issued in February of next year for any time between July 1, 2022 and Dec. 30, 2022 where Woburn is determined to be non-compliant with state DEP drinking water standards for PFAS chemicals.

The subject of increasing concern in recent years, PFAS chemicals have been used for decades to manufacture various stain resistant and/or non-stick coatings on products. PFAS chemicals are also found in various firefighting foams, among other things.

The chemicals can take extremely long periods of time to break down, accumulating in the food chain as a result and lingering in the human body. Elevated levels of PFAS chemicals can have a variety of negative effects, as noted by a state fact sheet.

The state has set a threshold of 20 parts-per-trillion for an acceptable level of PFAS chemicals in drinking water. In Woburn, three years of testing data has seen the city average a level of 17.8 parts-per-trillion.

A third-party lab tasked with testing water samples recently invalidated Woburn’s July sample for what the city described as “quality control reasons," however. August data then came back with a PFAS measurement of 20.6 parts-per-trillion.

Woburn has seen spikes like this before, with PFAS levels climbing above 25 parts-per-trillion last summer, according to city documents. Levels jumped above 25 parts-per-trillion again in late September and October.

Though the city attributed these fluctuations to a “typical seasonal pattern” in its most recent announcement, it has rolled out measures for impacted groups.

The city said in its announcement that adults or older children who are not in sensitive populations can continue to consume the water, saying the 20 parts-per-trillion measurement is “applicable to a lifetime of consuming the water.”

“Shorter duration exposures present less risk,” the city said.

Those who do qualify for a rebate will be able to apply online beginning in January of next year, the city said this week.

In the meantime, the city is in the process of upgrading its water treatment plant to treat and remove PFAS chemicals. Initial engineering studies for that project had been completed as of Thursday, with a design process now underway.

The city has submitted an application for state funding to help pay for the planned PFAS mitigation upgrades.

A city timeline earlier this year called for construction on the city’s PFAS mitigation upgrades to begin in May of 2023. Work would then wrap up around July, 2024.

Anyone with questions about their drinking water is asked to contact the City of Woburn Water Department at 781-897-5945. Galvin can be reached at 781-897-5907.

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