Concord Water has been monitoring for PFAS since the Massachusetts standard took effect and our most recent results are listed in the table below. 

In Massachusetts, the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) administers the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.  MassDEP has to be at least as stringent with their standard as EPA and will have up to two years to adopt the new lower standard to comply with EPA’s primacy requirements.  MassDEP has indicated they will convene a stakeholder group to advise them on adoption of new standards (MassDEP could choose to be more stringent than EPA or could act more quickly to adopt the standards than EPA requires).  We expect to learn more about MassDEP’s process in the coming months.  

Now that a federal standard has been adopted, PWSs across the country will be grappling with how to come into compliance with the new standards.   

Concord Water is committed to providing consumers with safe and reliable water and is  working diligently to develop a plan that ensures the public water supply meets the new drinking water standards.  We are working with our operations staff, consulting engineers and MassDEP to develop a Long-Term Water Supply Plan for the Town to guide, develop, design and implement an effective, resilient, and fiscally responsible solution to this emerging chemical of concern.  

The final EPA rule requires all public water suppliers to implement solutions that reduce these PFAS levels below the MCL within five years (by 2029). 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly referred to as PFAS, are a family of man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries and consumer products around the globe since the 1940’s. The ability of PFAS to resist water, grease, and stains led to their widespread use in carpets, furniture fabrics, clothing, cookware, food packaging, personal care products, and even firefighting foams.  This widespread use over several decades accounts for the presence of PFAS in many water supplies in the U.S. PFAS are nicknamed “forever chemicals” because many of them resist breaking down in the environment, and bioaccumulate in organisms, including humans.

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It can be hard to wrap our minds around what the concentration of a contaminant actually means. The most commonly used units of measure for drinking water analysis are parts per million (ppm) and parts per billion (ppb), or mg/L and ug/L respectively. To help visualize these concentrations, imagine that 1 ppm is the same as one drop of water in a large bucket, while 1 ppb is the same as one drop of water in a backyard swimming pool!

PFAS are measured in parts per trillion (ppt) or ng/L. To help visualize this even smaller concentration, imagine one drop of water in roughly 20 Olympic size swimming pools. You can also imagine 1 ppt as 1 inch in 16 million miles (600+ times around the earth), 30 seconds out of every million years, or 1 cent in $10 billion.  

Because these chemicals have been used in an array of consumer products, most people have been exposed to them. PFAS can be found in:

• Food packaged in PFAS-containing materials, processed with equipment that used PFAS, or grown in PFAS-contaminated soil or water.
• Commercial household products, including stain- and water-repellent fabrics, nonstick products (e.g., Teflon), polishes, waxes, paints, cleaning products, and fire-fighting foams (a major source of groundwater contamination at airports and military bases where firefighting training occurs).
• Workplace, including production facilities or industries (e.g., chrome plating, electronics manufacturing or oil recovery) that use PFAS.
• Drinking water, typically localized and associated with a specific facility (e.g., manufacturer, landfill, wastewater treatment plant, firefighter training facility).
• Living organisms, including fish, animals and humans, where PFAS have the ability to build up and persist over time.

PFAS are resilient and do not break down easily in the environment. The two most extensively studied PFAS chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), have been phased out of production in the United States; however, they are still manufactured internationally and may be imported in a variety of consumer goods.

There are many water filters on the market, but not all filters address PFAS.  If you choose to use a filter, be sure to get one that is certified to remove or reduce PFAS in drinking water.  It is important to note that the current certification standards for PFAS filters (as of April 2024) do not yet indicate that a filter will remove PFAS down to the levels EPA has now set for a drinking water standard.

EPA Fact Sheet - Reducing PFAS in Your Drinking Water with a Home Filter 

Filter Maintenance is Critical - Filters are only effective if they are maintained according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Not replacing a filter by the manufacturer’s recommend schedule can increase your risk of exposure to PFAS.

Updates will be posted to this webpage, so please check back periodically. Updates may also be provided via News and Notices; you may sign up to receive News and Notices via email or SMS at www.concordma.gov/notifyme if you have not previously registered for this service.

Q1&2 2025 PFAS Results Summary
Q2 2024 PFAS Results Summary
Q1 2024 PFAS Results Summary
Q2 2023 PFAS Results Summary
Q1 2023 PFAS Results Summary
Q3 2022 PFAS Results Summary
Q2 2022 PFAS Results Summary
Q1 2022 PFAS Results Summary
Q4 2021 PFAS Results Summary
Q3 2021 PFAS Results Summary
Q2 2021 PFAS Results Summary
2021/2022 Hugh Cargill PFAS Results Summary

Additional Resources:

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency PFAS resources 
• MassDEP PFAS resources 
• MassDEP FAQ for consumers
• Safe Water Massachusetts 

 News Media:

• September 24, 2020: MassDEP Press Release 
• April 13, 2021: Concord Journal Article 
• May 12, 2021: Concord Journal Article 

Melissa Simoncini
Senior Environmental & Regulatory Coordinator
Email (msimoncini@concordma.gov)
Phone: 978-318-3250

UPDATED: 4/24/2024