MDC CONFIRMS NO PFAS DETECTED IN WATER
Water sampling shows no PFAS, consistent with previous tests
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(HARTFORD, CT) – The Metropolitan District (MDC) takes water quality very seriously, and remains committed to providing our customers with the highest quality potable water through source protection, treatment, compliance monitoring and reporting of analytical results. MDC uses rigorous testing as part of its annual water quality report and continues to meet or exceed drinking water standards year after year.
A recent news article appeared in the Hartford Courant on October 16 titled “Does your CT drinking water have harmful forever chemicals? In this state it depends where you live,” that confirmed that MDC has detected no PFAs over several rounds of water sampling for 2023. MDC previously published the results of the first two rounds of PFAS testing via press releases in April and June.
The MDC has been testing for PFAS as part of an EPA program called the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) to monitor for the highest priority unregulated contaminants in Public Water Systems (PWS) across the United States every 5 years. Water samples are collected and analyzed for 29 specific PFAS substances as part of the requirement of this year’s program called UCMR 5. The test period for UCMR 5 allows until the end of 2025 to complete testing. MDC chose to complete the testing this year.
MDC began the UCMR 5 testing this past January, which must be completed over four consecutive quarters. The results from the three quarters of testing indicated none of the 29 PFAS compounds have been detected in MDC water samples. The fourth round of testing in currently underway. It should be noted that MDC also tested its water for six PFAS compounds as part of a previous round of UCMR testing in 2013 and 2014. No PFAS were detected in any of the samples taken during that twelve-month period.
MDC’s surface water reservoirs are well protected as Connecticut is one of only two states that requires use of Class A water for drinking water purposes. Class A water means that there are no wastewater discharges to the drinking water source or upstream. In addition, MDC owns over 31,000 acres of land to protect its watershed and maintains a vigilant and aggressive watershed protection program, which includes over 1000 inspections a year which vastly reduces potential contamination.
MDC is confident that not only is the water safe to drink, but it remains among the highest quality in the United States. MDC will continue to keep our customers informed on water quality standards for PFAS as they are developed by our regulators.