Doylestown Borough Awarded $6M To Address PFAS Contamination

DOYLESTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Doylestown Borough has been awarded $6 million from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) to address PFAS contamination in its water system.

The combination low-interest loan and grant was announced at this week's Doylestown Borough Council meeting by member Dennis Livrone, the council's liaison to the water utility committee.

"This is huge," said Livrone, who thanked everyone involved in the borough's application to PENNVEST, including staff and the borough's water engineers at CKS.

According to Livrone, the borough will receive a $1.1 million low-interest loan and a $4.9 million grant to install new equipment to filter out the "forever chemicals" from its wells and deliver water to its customers below current detectable levels.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals known as "forever chemicals" because they don't break down in the environment. They are found in many products, including carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for food, cookware, and firefighting foam.

According to Borough Manager John Davis, the first five-year interest rate on the loan will be a little over one percent. The rate over the subsequent 15 years will be slightly over two percent.

"A tremendous value there," said Davis. "We have six months from now to get these projects underway and we expect to do so."

The funding is part of a $288.2 million investment by PENNVEST announced earlier this month in 39 drinking water, wastewater, and non-point source projects across 24 counties in the Commonwealth.

“This investment in our communities strengthens our clean water infrastructure while addressing legacy contaminants like lead and PFAS,” said PENNVEST Chairman Dr. Brian Regli. “Through traditional funding programs and funding introduced in 2022 under the bipartisan infrastructure law, PENNVEST has financed more than $67 million for nine PFAS projects across five counties. With the announcement of funding awarded at today’s board meeting, PENNVEST’s total PFAS funding commitment has now increased to in excess of $95,096,576."

The $4.9 million grant and the $1.1 million loan will allow Doylestown Borough to install dual-vessel Granular Activated Carbon Treatment Systems at three borough wells - 9, 10, and 12. The treatment systems will require the construction of a freestanding building at each well facility to house the vessels, controls, and necessary equipment.

In addition, the project will include the installation of a cartridge-style pre-filter at each well, new chlorine facilities provisioned in the new treatment housing, and relocation of existing chlorine equipment at the sites.

"The project will address health and safety concerns associated with PFAS contamination and allow the borough to maintain independent operation of all water sources to meet the system demand," the borough said.

PENNVEST funding for water improvement projects originates from a combination of state funds approved by voters, Growing Greener funds, Marcellus Legacy funds, the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act, federal grant awards to PENNVEST from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, and recycled loan repayments from previous PENNVEST funding awards.