HAMILTON — The City of Hamilton has issued a water advisory after recent drinking water results showed elevated PFAS levels above the EPA's minimum reporting level.
The City says this is not an emergency but people should take precautions to limit exposures.
Those who have increased risk from exposure, such as babies or the elderly, should use a different source of water for drinking or preparing food.
Do not boil the water as that would concentrate PFAS further.
However, the City says brushing teeth or showering is generally considered low risk.
Hamilton's Public Works Department says they made operational changes to minimize the amount of water served from impacted well and are working towards finding long-term treatment solutions.
"We do not know where the PFAS chemicals are originating from. Based on the chemicals present, most likely there was a firefighting event that used firefighting foam in the past upgradient from Well #6 that made its way into the groundwater, but we don’t really know," Donny Ramer, Hamilton's Director of Public Works shared in a statement.
"The well replacement or adding a treatment process will take a while and will not be easy. We will have to find a suitable alternative location, drill test wells, sample groundwater and build new infrastructure and treatment facilities to connect the new source to our system. It will involve water rights work, DEQ approval, and most likely property acquisition. We are currently working with DEQ and looking for funding sources to assist with this process," Ramer continued.
