Westborough Sues 'Forever Chemicals' Makers After Town Drinking Water Contamination

WESTBOROUGH, MA — Westborough is suing a host of companies that manufactured products containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — known as PFAS — that later entered the town drinking water supply, putting residents at risk.

Westborough filed the suit in March against a handful of national chemical companies including 3M, BSAF and Kidde-Fenewal. The suit focuses on firefighting foam sold by the companies that contained PFAS.

That foam, used for decades to fight fires and for training purposes, flowed into multiple town drinking water wells over the years, the suit says. After a new Massachusetts regulation went into effect in 2020 requiring PFAS testing, Westborough discovered the so-called "forever chemicals" in all town drinking water wells.

Several wells were far above the state standard of 20 parts per-trillion (ppt), although they had not been used for drinking water in recent years. One offline well in the Indian Meadows area had a level of 850 ppt for one PFAS chemical, according to the lawsuit — more than 42 times the state threshold.

"Exposure to PFAS is toxic and poses serious health risks to humans and animals," Westborough's lawsuit says. "PFAS are readily absorbed after consumption or inhalation and accumulate primarily in the bloodstream, kidney, and liver."

Westborough is suing to cover costs of future PFAS monitoring and cleaning up the contamination — and isn't the first community in Massachusetts to take such a step.

In February, Wayland sued 3M and DuPont after discovering high PFAS levels in drinking water wells that were in use. The town has spent millions on a new filter system, and may spend millions more to connect to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority supply in the future. Princeton and Lexington have filed similar lawsuits.

One year ago, then-attorney general Maura Healey filed a state lawsuit against PFAS manufacturers. Both the state and Westborough's lawsuits were filed in South Carolina. In Massachusetts, 126 public drinking water systems in 86 communities have found PFAS at unacceptable levels.

The presence of PFAS in drinking water across the U.S. has become a priority for regulators in federal, state and local governments. The U.S. Department of Environmental Protection for the first time is proposing a national drinking water standard for PFAS, which would be stricter than the Massachusetts standard, limiting the acceptable threshold to 4 ppt.

The chemical companies have not yet responded to Westborough's lawsuit, according to court records. The select board was set to meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss the suit.