Chemicals continue to taint Burrillville tap water

BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WJAR) — Don’t drink the tap water.

Those words were spoken Monday night at a town meeting in Burrillville, where health officials warned some residents to only continue drinking bottled water.

The announcement came after high levels of perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, were detected in the Oakland Association water system.

Health officials said more than 200 people have been impacted.

The man-made chemical is not federally regulated in drinking water, but health officials said it can pose dangerous health risks, such as increasing risks of cancer or raising cholesterol levels.

Recent test results show that some wells within one-quarter mile of the area near Victory Highway in Oakland had high-levels of the chemical in the water.

"You go to brush your teeth and turn the faucet on and think, “Oh, I can’t do that." It’s just something you have to get used to," said Carole Lee, who recently found out PFAS showed up in tests of her water.

Like many others in the area, Lee has been turning to free bottled water provided by the state Department of Environmental Management.

"They called us Friday evening and told us what our levels were over the phone," said Brian Allen, who attended Monday's meeting.

Allen’s water luckily didn’t test high for the toxic chemical.

But, health officials said seven private wells and other homes along the Oakland Association water system tested positive.

The Department of Environmental Management could not tell NBC 10 News how much it's cost to supply bottled water so far, or how much it will cost to hire a private company to continue searching for the root of the problem.

"I just know that DEM is providing water at no cost to the people," said Matthew Destefano of DEM.

And there’s no clear remedy in sight.

Right now, the state is working with a private company to continue testing water and soil samples while the town is looking at other possible fixes.

"One solution would be to have Harrisville water supply us with the water from their system," said Richard Nolan of the Oakland Association.

That could cost roughly $50,000.

Town officials said they could also look to use a chemical to treat the water.

For now, many just hoping the answers don’t dry up.

"Were trying to be very transparent," Destefano said. "There’s a lot of questions we want to answer but we can’t right now, not because we’re not working on it, but we don’t have those answers yet. We’re working on it as fast as we can."

Officials said there is no timeline to fix this problem, only telling NBC 10 it could take several months.

Oakland must have a plan of action for the Rhode Island Department of Health by the end of November.

Residents will continue getting bottled water delivered to their homes.