Harrington Lagoon Area PFAS

There are going to be quite a few acronyms in the sections below, so a quick introduction to them before you read further.

PFAS stands per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, a large family of related man-made chemicals.  PFAS don’t break down naturally in the environment and can move with precipitation like rain down through soil and into the groundwater that we use for drinking water.  PFAS have been around since the 1940s and are used in lots of products because they have some unique and useful chemical properties.  Unfortunately, we now know that some PFAS are toxic to laboratory animals and have the potential to impact people’s health.  You can learn more about PFAS health concerns at doh.wa.gov/pfas.

TCP is Ecology’s Toxics Cleanup Program, the primary program responsible for working on cleaning up contaminated sites.  MTCA, the Model Toxics Control Act, is the main regulation that guides our work. 

DOH is the WA State Department of Health, and a SAL is a state action level.  SALs are recommended state limits for individual PFAS chemicals in the drinking water you use daily for many years.  They are set by the Washington State Board of Health to protect people’s health and are based on the best available science at the time.  SALs also require Group A water systems to test their drinking water by the end of 2025.  Group A water systems include the bigger water systems in the state – generally they include at least 15 connections or serve at least 25 people a day for at least 60 days of the year.

Early on – we’ve got limited information, but based on what we know, it seems like additional investigation and possibly cleanup are needed.  In TCP terminology, that means we completed an Initial Investigation and added this site to our Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List.  The next step for this Site is to collect additional samples, to help understand where the PFAS are located and at what concentrations.

This site is a little different than many we work with because we don’t know yet what the contamination source is.  Usually the owner/operator of a property or business, either currently or historically when the contamination happened, is who we would expect to be the entity funding the site investigation and cleanup.

Even for sites where we have more information and a confirmed source, once we finish the Initial Investigation, the site usually enters what MTCA calls independent cleanup.  This means the entity doing the cleanup can work on their own, with the support of environmental professionals, to do site investigation or cleanup.  They are expected to comply with MTCA and other applicable regulations as they do that.  Other process options exist for when a site is cleaned up with Ecology involvement – either technical assistance through the Voluntary Cleanup Program or oversight through what we call the formal cleanup process, which involves a legal agreement.  There is no timeline set out in MTCA for a site to get to the next step in the cleanup process, unless a site is in the formal cleanup process and a cleanup schedule is established as part of the legal agreement.

As you’ll see in the links below, there are a lot of us at the state and county level in different programs and agencies working on different pieces of the same puzzle!  PFAS have only just recently become regulated compounds in Washington state, so we don’t have a lot of existing information.  Right now, we’re mostly trying to figure out where PFAS are, both in consumer products and in the environment.  After we understand where they are, then we can move into the next steps, which for a cleanup site, is working on getting them out of the environment.

Specifically for this Site, DOH is also going to be a great source of information.  While TCP works mostly with the source of contamination – so we’re spending our time thinking a lot about soil, groundwater, and surface water - DOH are the experts on drinking water and public health.

There are also federal agencies working on PFAS, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  We monitor what they’re doing and incorporate it into our process as appropriate.

ECOLOGY

If you have data that will help us understand more about this Site, please submit to our Environmental Reports Tracking System (ERTS).  Different options for reporting are online – use the Northwest Region contacts.  Please include the Site name or ID numbers in your report.

Read in more detail how the MTCA cleanup process works.

Learn more about what Ecology’s Hazardous Waste Program is doing to address PFAS in different products, like firefighting foam and food containers, here.

DOH

DOH has answers to some frequently asked PFAS questions, like how to know if there are PFAS in your drinking water, when and how to take action to lower PFAS in your drinking water, and what types of water filters work best to remove PFAS from drinking water.

More information on the DOH SALs and monitoring requirements here.

COUNTY RESOURCES

Island County Health: Chris Kelley, County Hydrogeologist (c.kelley@islandcountywa.gov or 360-678-7885) or Aneta Hupfaeur, Drinking Water Program (AnetaH@islandcountywa.gov or 360-678-7995)

The Whidbey Island Water Systems Association website includes general information, and a page dedicated to PFAS.  They can be reached at mail@whidbeywatersystems.org.

PFAS TOXICITY/GENERAL INFO

EPA’s main PFAS website

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) information on Health Effects of PFAS

National Groundwater Association, PFAS and Private Well Owners fact sheet