PFAS: "State environmental officials say they’re constantly reevaluating their standards"

"In Wayland, local officials had been distributing cases of bottled water to 1,400 households a week — nearly a third of the suburb’s residents — and may have to seek a new water source that could cost more than twice the town’s annual budget.

Facing similar contamination in their drinking water, Natick officials plan to spend millions of dollars on a high-tech filtration system. In Wellesley, after shutting down the primary well that provided water to half their residents, officials are contemplating strict water-use limits for the first time.

“We’re definitely concerned,” said David Cohen, Wellesley’s public works director. “We’ll take all the steps we need to to address this.”

Continue reading the article online  (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/05/23/science/more-communities-are-finding-toxic-chemicals-their-drinking-water/

So what are Franklin's test results per the MA Energy & Environmental Affairs Data Portal? 

 

Using the data portal https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/portal#!/drinking-water/60737

I selected "Franklin Water Department"  and "Town of Franklin" and Contaminant Group of "PFAS" with the reporting period of Jan 1, 2020 through Apr 30, 2021 to get the results in this link

https://eeaonline.eea.state.ma.us/portal#!/search/drinking-water/results?PWSName=FRANKLIN%20WATER%20DEPARTMENT&Town=FRANKLIN&ContaminantGroup=PFAS&FromCollectedDate=2020-01-01&ToCollectedDate=2021-04-30

To view my data file -> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TiXP9f6xGNiG9LgWYhgqYsTNpookqcVm/view?usp=sharing

 

It is good to see test results for our water system (no surprise). I won't characterize the specific results as good or bad. I'll let the Town report on the details.

 

what are Franklin's test results

 

 

Town of Franklin, MA shared @wbz video clip on air filter system

Town of Franklin, MA (@TOFranklinMA) tweeted on Sat, Mar 27, 2021:

Thank you to @wbz and @AnnaMeiler for visiting Franklin and showcasing this groundbreaking solution to keep our teachers, children, staff and general public safe now and well into the future! A great story. 

Check out the video clip 👇

https://twitter.com/TOFranklinMA/status/1375779090872078340

This was presented at the School Committee meeting Feb 23,2021. You can listen to the presentation here  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/02/fm-473-school-committee-meeting-022321.html

Photos from the meeting including slides from the presentation on the UVGI system  https://photos.app.goo.gl/nbQRysFGMgEF4owE7

Town of Franklin, MA shared @wbz video clip on air filter system

CommonWealth Magazine: "Why is the state’s technology so bad?

“THE…DISASTER WAS completely avoidable, as administrators knew the system was not ready, yet decided to launch it anyway… Investigations cannot undo the taxpayer dollars wasted and the disruption of families’ access to health care.”

That comment could have been voiced recently by critics of the state’s troubled vaccine finder website – but it wasn’t. It was actually a critique of the state’s disastrous rollout of the Health Connector website in 2014, built under then-Gov. Deval Patrick. The speaker was then-gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker – now the governor in charge of the Vaxfinder website best known for the four-armed orange octopus that appeared when it crashed.

There are significant differences between the debacles. The Health Connector website failure cost hundreds of millions of dollars and, in its initial form, never worked. The state had to give hundreds of thousands of people temporary Medicaid coverage because it couldn’t figure out what insurance they were eligible for. The Vaxfinder website cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and ultimately, it has worked, with tens of thousands of people using it to sign up for vaccine appointments, despite the difficulties."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/technology/why-is-the-states-technology-so-bad/

The article goes into some history on problems with State systems. Let's take it this way: What State system actually works the way it should? Your answers welcomed in the comments, on Facebook, Twitter or email.