“FRIGHTENED” borehole-using residents of La Pulente who are concerned about levels of PFAS in their drinking water will not be connected to the mains, at least in the short term, because they fall outside of a ‘plume area’ of contamination.
A ‘hotspot’ of high PFAS levels exists around the Airport, where firefighting foam containing the manmade chemical linked to several health conditions including kidney cancer was sprayed over many years.
Households on boreholes in the ‘plume area’ that flows down from the Airport and into St Ouen’s Bay have mostly been connected to mains water – but La Pulente is not included in that area, defined by a team of hydrogeological consultants last year.
However, in the States yesterday, Environment Minister Steve Luce was quizzed by St Brelade representatives on La Pulente, where, the Assembly heard, recent tests on private supplies has suggested that water there had been contaminated in the same way as the nearby plume area and why is the government not funding the extension of mains water to these properties.
He replied: “Currently, there is no programme for mains connections based on the plume area. The plume, defined by [consultants] Arcadis, is the area of groundwater contamination where the level is above 100 nanograms per litre [of PFAS], which is the drinking water inspectorate guidelines.
“La Pulente is below this level and therefore not within the defined plume area.”
He added: “Groundwater can contain PFAS from a range resources, including potentially the historic airport activities. My officers have not confirmed the direct link in the case of La Pulente but what I can say is that PFAS levels in drinking water in that area are below the drinking water Inspectorate guidelines.”
Deputy Luce said he has been in correspondence with La Pulente residents and he had instructed his officers to arrange tap water testing at eight properties in the area that were not connected to mains water – none of which had returned results about the 100 ng/l limit.
He added that he could not commit to offer full “expensive” PFAS tests – similar to the ones that Arcadis had carried out – as he would then be obliged to offer it to everyone in the Island, which could “run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds”.
Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, answering a question from St Brelade Constable Mike Jackson on behalf of “frightened” La Pulente residents, said he would, in principle, support the extension of mains water to the area, but he also aligned himself with the Environment Minister’s answers.
He said that the government’s Investing in Jersey strategy included the extension of mains water and drains, but these programmes were “a little bit down the road”.
Later this month, the States are due to debate setting a legal limit of 4 ng/l of PFAS in mains drinking water to be introduced within five years.
