May 12, 2022
The Administrative Record is open for public comment between May 28, 2022 and August 26, 2022.
- Administrative Record (PDF)
- Hard copies of the Administrative Record are available for public review at the Benner Township municipal building.
April 29, 2022
In continuation of DEP’s HSCA investigation into the PFAS groundwater plume in Benner Township, regional HSCA staff collected 10 private water supply samples during the week of April 18, 2022 for a total of 65 private supply well samples collected to date. For those homes with combined PFOA and PFOS concentrations at or greater than the EPA HAL of 70 ppt (parts per trillion), bottled water delivery has been arranged as an immediate, short-term alternate drinking water source. DEP intends to follow up the provision of bottled water with the installation of whole home treatment systems for those residents with water supply wells containing concentrations at or greater than 70 ppt who do not have an existing treatment system that is effectively reducing levels to below the EPA HAL.
Because DEP has initiated what is referred to as a “Prompt Interim Response” with the bottled water delivery, our response activities will be open for a 90-day public comment period, during which a public hearing will be held for residents to present oral comments. Any comments should be focused on the actions under the Prompt Interim Response and not on other actions the DEP is conducting. All comments, written and oral, will be included in a Public Comment and Response document following the public comment period that will be made available on DEP’s project website as well as sent to any commentors who have provided contact information.
In conjunction with the public comment period notification, an Administrative Record containing documentation of DEP’s response decision and alternatives considered will be made available for public viewing at both DEP’s project website, and at the Benner Township Municipal Building.
Public Hearing:
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
6:30 pm
Benner Township Municipal Building
Public Comment Period: May 28, 2022 – August 26, 2022
Written responses to all comments will be compiled and made available to the public following the end of the public comment period.
Notification for the public comment period and hearing will appear in the PA Bulletin, the Centre Daily Times, and the DEP project website
April 15, 2022
The sample results from DEP’s March 22-24, 2022 sampling event have been received and the results provided to the individual property owners. Of the 34 samples collected in this round of sampling, 9 were found to contain PFAS (PFOA and PFOS) above the 70 parts per trillion (ppt also often reported in nanograms/liter or ng/l) Act 2 cleanup standard or HAL. In total 10 residential wells have exceeded the standard out of the 44 residential wells that DEP has sampled. All of the occupied homes without an effective drinking water treatment system are being provided with bottled water for potable use until treatment or an alternate water supply can be arranged. About twelve additional water samples, including both new locations and confirmation samples where the results showed a detection of PFAS below 70 ppt, are being collected the week of April 18, 2022. Should a residential well exceed the standard in the April 18 round of sampling they will also be provided bottled water. If the cleanup standards should change, as is proposed, the results will be re-examined and the residences above the proposed standard supplied with treatment or an alternative water supply. Determining the potential health risk related to drinking water in the investigation area continues to be our first priority.
Results from 26 soil samples collected on February 22-23, 2022 have been received and compiled. Initial evaluation indicates that, where detected, PFAS compounds tend to be higher in the shallow soil and are lower with increased depth. As DEP completes the residential drinking water sampling phase, further sampling of soil in various locations will be completed along with looking at potential surface water impacts. DEP’s contractor will compile all the information collected into a summary report once this phase of the investigation is completed. The summary report will be shared with the public on this website once it is finalized.
DEP has been in contact with the townships of Benner, College and Patton to keep them apprised of our investigation status and our investigation results and will continue to do so. Several updates have also been provided to local representatives and updates have been added to this website. We will continue to provide updates as information and sample data is received and the investigation progresses.
April 1, 2022
In late February and March 2022, DEP NCRO’s HSCA program staff conducted sampling at 42 private water supply locations. Results from sampling on February 23-24 were relayed to the property owners, and while PFAS compounds were detected in several samples, all were below current standards. Results from sampling on March 22-24 are expected in mid-to-late April and will be relayed to the property owners upon receipt. DEP’s HSCA contractor installed 13 soil borings in locations around the University Park Airport and High Tech Road properties on February 23-24. Results are in the process of being compiled and evaluated at this time. DEP reached out to additional property owners with no response; we will continue to try to contact these residents in order to collect samples of their supply wells, if they are interested. We are also evaluating additional spring and/or surface water and groundwater sampling locations that may be sampled in subsequent sampling rounds.