A Montgomery County Township Says It Was Ahead Of The Curve Where PFAS Is Concerned

HORSHAM, PA — Municipal officials in this eastern Montgomery County community say they were ahead of the curve when it came to addressing dangerous "forever chemicals" in drinking water, their announcement coming during the same week when the federal government said PFAS compounds could be more toxic than previously believed.

The Horsham Water & Sewer Authority this week released a statement addressing health advisories that had been announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerning a class of chemicals known as PFAS.

The EPA this week issued advisories for two PFAS compounds — perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) — saying the compounds could be dangerous if ingested even at below-detectable levels.

The Horsham Water & Sewer Authority said that the announcement by federal environmental officials this week "shows the wisdom of HWSA and the Horsham Township Council in 2016," which at that time adopted a standard of "non-detect" for all PFAS compounds in the public water supply.

"The Horsham Water & Sewer Authority (HWSA) immediately began implementing a plan to meet this standard and installed state-of-the-art treatment facilities at impacted wells and an additional interconnection with an adjacent water supplier," the authority said in its announcement this week. "Since October 2019, HWSA has been meeting the 'Horsham Standard' of no-detection for PFAS in our drinking water."

Earlier this week, Patch reported on an ongoing study in the Montgomery and Bucks County region seeking participants who live in certain towns that may have ingested PFAS through the water supply.

Related: PFAS Study Seeks Montco, Bucks Residents Who May Have Had Exposure

Ingestion of the PFAS class of chemicals has been linked to increased rates of certain types of cancers, such as kidney and testicular.

In its announcement this week, the Horsham Water & Sewer Authority said that local customers can "rest assured that Horsham is already providing the highest level of treatment possible for all PFAS compounds. Many water systems across the country will now be trying to move down the path already laid by Horsham Township."

PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" because they do not break down easily, and can stick around for thousands of years.

The chemicals are typically found in certain types of industrial material, such as firefighting foam.