Penn State is ready to help bring public water to dozens of Benner Township homeowners facing chemical contamination in their private wells, the university told StateCollege.com this week.
When and how the nearly 40 affected households might connect to a municipal water system remain uncertain. But the university has begun talking with the Benner Township Water Authority, a Penn State spokesperson said in a statement.
The university did not detail options under consideration or the status of the effort, noting “discussions are in their initial stages.”
A pending consent order and agreement identifies Penn State as “a responsible person” concerning “the release or threatened release” of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” — at the university-owned and -operated State College Regional Airport on Fox Hill Road. Tests revealed PFAS above government thresholds for drinking water at 39 homes near the airport, most in the Walnut Grove Estates neighborhood, according to a five-year state investigation. All the homes draw from private wells.
Penn State “has conveyed to (the township water authority) a willingness to help deliver public water to the affected areas,” the university statement reads. Conversations will include the State College Borough Water Authority and “continue to explore options.”
Any fix for affected homes cannot risk higher service rates for the 300-or-so existing customers of the Benner water authority, said Thomas Eby, a longtime authority board member. He confirmed having had two Zoom conversations recently with a Penn State administrator.
Next steps are still in the works, he said.
“The authority is not in any condition to finance any of this,” Eby said. He put its annual operating budget around $200,000.
Under the proposed order and agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Penn State would maintain water-filtration systems already installed by DEP at affected homes. The university could cease that maintenance under certain scenarios, including the installation of a public water supply.
The upkeep commitment would not be an admission that airport runoff contaminated individual wells, according to the agreement, and Penn State has not said whether it believes the airport is the PFAS source in DEP’s investigation. The university identified four airport locations where federally mandated firefighting foam may have been discharged in required training or testing, according to the agreement.
Until recently, the Federal Aviation Administration required a PFAS-containing foam for those exercises. Penn State hasn’t discharged the substance to the ground since 2020 and has followed all relevant regulations, according to the university. DEP indicated that more investigation could turn up additional contamination sources.
The department is accepting public input on the proposed order until Feb. 12, when a 60-day comment period ends. Benner Township Supervisor Kathy Evey said a public water line would likely be a multi-million-dollar endeavor.
Penn State “should take full responsibility and do whatever is necessary to give the Walnut Grove Estates people public water,” said Evey, who added she was speaking only for herself. She called a public water source “long, long overdue.”
Rick Weyer, a 20-year resident of Walnut Grove Estates, said the university should be collaborating with government agencies. Residents want “a clean source of water that ultimately we are not held financially responsible for — since we have been harmed in a way that none of us are responsible for.”
“Without those groups cooperating and finding a way forward, there’s not much we can say,” Weyer said. “We’re sitting here with contaminated water with filtration. We have no ability to build a water line” ourselves.
PFAS at New ClearWater Conservancy Center Site
The discussion comes amid growing attention to PFAS locally and nationally. A class of synthetic chemicals used in consumer and industrial products, the widespread substances have become known for their persistence in the environment, accumulation in the human body and potential health effects.
PFAS exposure may be linked to greater risk of some cancers, altered metabolism and reduced immune ability, among other issues, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Almost everyone in the U.S. has some amount of PFAS in the blood, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.
Just outside DEP’s airport investigation area, the ClearWater Conservancy in November discovered a PFAS substance — PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid — slightly above the Environmental Protection Agency’s actionable level for drinking water. The substance turned up in a well along Houserville Road, where the environmental group is planning a new community conservation facility on Spring Creek.
The group already was planning a comprehensive water treatment system for the College Township facility — and it’s being designed to remove PFOS as a precaution, ClearWater told StateCollege.com. A second test in January showed PFOS at the site below the EPA actionable level. The nonprofit also plans to encourage DEP to expand its airport investigation area — now more than 11 square miles — for further study.
ClearWater alerted nearby property owners to its own contaminant discovery.
Asked for a response, DEP said it took additional water samples at two properties near the ClearWater site and is waiting on results before determining any next steps. PFOS is among several PFAS substances detected in the airport investigation, according to the department.
An equipment calibration issue may have affected test results from the initial sample at the ClearWater property, also taken by DEP, the department said.
SCBWA Raised Concern About Penn State Sewage Effluent
Elsewhere in the region, the State College Borough Water Authority has urged Penn State to rethink its handling of PFAS-containing sewage effluent from University Park. In a June 13, 2023, letter, authority Executive Director Brian Heiser said the Alexander Farm Well Field sits about 1.5 miles northeast of an irrigation area where the university releases treated wastewater near Toftrees.
That effluent contains “documented levels of PFAS compounds,” Heiser wrote in the letter to Penn State operations engineer David Swisher.
“As long as PSU’s wastewater treatment plant’s treated effluent contains PFAS, the detected levels in the groundwater will potentially increase with time,” Heiser wrote. The water authority “is concerned that the PFAS will continue to migrate deeper into the aquifer where it may eventually contaminate the groundwater region supplying the Alexander Farm Well Field, which is a critical regional public groundwater supply.”
Specifically, the authority asked the university to incorporate PFAS removal into its wastewater-treatment process or consider other ways to discharge the effluent.
In a response on July 19, 2023, a Penn State administrator resisted the request. StateCollege.com obtained the exchange under the state Right-to-Know Law.
There was no indication that PFAS concentrations in monitoring wells were increasing, wrote William E. Sitzabee, then the university chief facilities officer. A 2022 report found most samples of the university’s treated effluent had PFAS concentrations lower than drinking-water standards that DEP published in January 2023, he wrote. (EPA has since set tougher standards for drinking water; Sitzabee’s letter didn’t include exactly how much PFAS was detected.)
Further, Sitzabee highlighted Penn State’s use of granular activated carbon to treat drinking water for University Park. The approach removes PFAS, which can come from a wide variety of sources, he wrote.
Penn State “believes that (the borough water authority) itself is in the best position to ensure the continued high quality and safety of the water it provides to State College and the surrounding community,” Sitzabee wrote.
In its statement to StateCollege.com, Penn State said it’s in full compliance with a DEP operating permit for the wastewater treatment system. No state or federal standards or guidelines require it to monitor wastewater for PFAS, according to Penn State.
“The university has a long-standing commitment to the health, safety and well-being of those on the University Park campus as well as to our neighbors in the State College community and beyond,” Penn State said.
Adam Smeltz is a StateCollege.com contributor. Reach him at asmeltz@gmail.com.
