Boro quells concerns over drinking water
Lab results show no detectable levels of chemical PFOA
BY MICHAEL ACKER
Staff Writer

Sayreville officials gave the borough's water a clean bill of health this week after receiving test results that showed no detectable levels of a chemical reported to be in the water.

The borough had testing done after concerns were raised last month that traces of PFOA, described as a "potential carcinogen," were found in tap water in Parlin.

The borough, in response to the earlier testing done by an environmental and labor coalition, took water samples from four locations including a drinking water fountain at the Sayreville Public Library and the water treatment plant on Bordentown Avenue. The water was then tested by Severn Trent Labs Inc., of Denver, which officials said is the only facility certified by the DEP to undertake these tests.

Councilman Stanley Drwal said the lab analyzed each sample on July 26, resulting in its conclusion that PFOA is not present in the borough's drinking water in levels greater than .01 parts per billion.

Sandy Triolo, director of the Sayreville water department, said the test results have eased his mind about concerns over PFOA contamination in the water.

"We are very happy with the results," Triolo said. "We did not think there was a problem to begin with, and we confirmed that with the test. Hopefully, it will ease the minds of the people in town that the water is safe to drink. If anything else comes up, we will handle it as quickly as this one."

Severn Trent Lab did not comment on the test results due to issues pertaining to confidentiality.

PFOA is a synthetic chemical that, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection [DEP], does not occur naturally in the environment. DuPont makes PFOA in North Carolina and uses the chemical at its Parlin site.

Council President Thomas Pollando said the results demonstrate that the borough's drinking water is of a high quality and safe to drink.

"The water treatment plant has state-of-the-art technology," Pollando said, "and we are proud of it. I think certain people started hysteria here and made residents concerned when at no time should there have been concerns."

Drwal agreed, noting that Severn used the industry standard of .01 parts per billion in order to maintain the accuracy of the test.

"We are confident in our filtration system, but we wanted another test by a certified lab using all of the proper precautions and professional standards," Drwal said.

The PFOA levels found by the New Jersey Work Environment Council were in the range of between 3 to 53 parts per trillion, as opposed to parts per billion.

Drwal noted that the higher level amounts found in the environmental group's study were from the samples taken at springs and not from the borough's drinking water.

"PFOA is in the environment and in the ecosystem," Drwal said. "It is going to be found in any place in small levels."

Richard C. Abraham, environmental consultant for the United Steelworkers Union - one of the groups that raised the initial concerns - told the Suburban that the coalition had selected AXYS Technologies laboratory in Canada to test water samples because it was one of the few labs that is capable of conducting the test.

Abraham said the method of collecting samples and the testing itself followed proper protocols in order to conclude that PFOA is in the borough's water supply in trace amounts. He added that they actively sought out the borough's streams in Parlin to test for PFOA.

"They are ignoring the surface water discharges," Abraham said. "Their news conference focused on drinking water, but there are surface water issues as well."

Stormwater runoff is another concern of Abraham's, since the test results done by the environmental group's lab came back positive for trace levels of PFOA in the streams tested around the DuPont Parlin Plant.

"Those streams are not permitted discharge points," Abraham said, adding that he wants to know how PFOA got into the water.

The EPA's science advisory board has assessed PFOA as a likely carcinogen, Abraham said.

"That is not an endorsement of this chemical being good for people," Abraham said. "It causes cancer in animals. People should not be guinea pigs. There is no excuse for this being in the groundwater."

Drwal said he thinks the amount of PFOA found in the environmental group's tests were too low to warrant alarm.

"We wanted to calm the public, because the original article caused a lot of alarm among people who read it quickly and thought there was a problem," Drwal said.

Denise Patel of the New Jersey Environment Work council noted that the library was the only site that the borough and the environmental groups both tested.

"I am still reviewing their report," Patel said. "I requested a copy of their report and I am going to talk about it with both labs."

AXYS labs has been used by other states in testing water samples, according to Patel.

"The steelworkers have been doing these tests across the country and they have been consistently using AXYS. We are working with the borough on this issue and if we find that the lab we used has higher accuracy, we will notify them to keep them up-to-date to ensure that people are not exposed to the carcinogen."

Borough Business Administrator Jeffry Bertrand said the borough plans to run another test in six months .

"We are constantly watching for national and regional issues," Bertrand said, "which is demonstrated through our extra filtration system. Somebody said we have a problem, and we immediately did testing."