On November 5, Aqua Pennsylvania announced it has received approval for a PennVEST loan that will be used to construct a treatment facility at its North Hills well in Upper Dublin Township, Montgomery County that will remove Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), which are a part of the PFAS family of chemicals. Aqua removed this well from service in July 2018.

Since 2018, Aqua has worked with the Department of Environmental Protection to complete studies showing that the proposed resin treatment system will provide the desired treatment and has completed design and permitting and documents for the PennVEST application.

Aqua President Marc Lucca said, “This is another example of meeting commitments we’ve made to the community regarding the presence of PFAS.” The project includes constructing new ion exchange contractors and related well station improvements to accommodate the new treatment.

Aqua’s parent company, Essential Utilities Inc., announced in February 2020 its commitment to standardize its activities to address the presence of the PFAS family of chemicals in drinking water across its eight-state Aqua footprint.

In its February 2020 news release, Essential said beginning this year, it will make the necessary capital investment in the range of tens of millions of dollars over several years to install mitigation technology at water treatment facilities where source water exceeds 13 parts per trillion (ppt) for any of the three PFAS.

For more information, visit the Aqua Pennsylvania website.

[Posted: November 5, 2020]

11/9/2020