Water Quality & PFOA

The federal government has for the first time set limits on so-called “forever chemicals” or PFAS in public drinking water supplies. The state estimates 550 drinking water systems will be required to monitor for PFAS and GenX chemicals under the new standard.

PFAS chemicals have been used for decades to waterproof and stain-proof consumer products and are linked to health problems.

Spiese, who works as a hazard waste site manager for the Department of Environmental Conservation, is once again traveling around Bennington in response to further PFAS contamination in residents' water.

The state now says it wants to test up to 90 wells across southern Bennington for toxic PFAS chemicals, and residents within the testing area are anxiously awaiting more information.

The company has been under fire for years for their use of PFAS chemicals, which have contaminated water in the area around their facility in Merrimack. But the exact timing of the closure remains unclear.

An environmental advocacy group decided to test the Winooski River for PFAS chemicals, and says it found elevated levels of the cancer-causing chemicals in a popular fishing hole and reservoir. But state environmental officials take issue with those results.

The new infrastructure legislation makes money available to remove potentially poisonous pipes around the country. In Flint, Mich., mistrust runs deeper than the plumbing does.

Lake Memphremagog crosses the international border into Canada, where more than 175,000 locals rely on the lake for drinking water. Now the University of Sherbrooke plans to launch a permanent observatory to monitor the lake’s health and water quality.

When PFAS chemicals were detected in Lake Memphremagog last fall, it set off alarm bells on both the Vermont and Canadian shores of the lake. Now the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation is undertaking extensive testing for the chemicals starting this summer.

Hotter oceans are putting coral reefs in peril worldwide. Scientists are warning that to save them, heat-trapping emissions must fall, and reefs will need more protection and restoration.