PFAS
August 6, 2023
The Los Angeles Times newspaper was interested in our story and Ian James interviewed Kathy Borland for the story. They sent a photographer to take pictures. The online article does not show all the pictures that were printed in the paper. Our news in this small community is getting out which is what we wanted!
August 1, 2023
KSBY interviewed several of us for the impacts of PFAS on our properties! Claudia did a great job researching and reporting accurate information.
Here is a video of Kathy Borland discussing her liver issue as a possible result of exposure to PFAS.
July 28, 2023
The Water Board ratified the Voluntary Agreement on Friday, July 21st!! We are very happy to be entering the next phase which will be more testing and getting RO Systems in every household under the kitchen sink if not already installed. The Water Board commissioners asked a lot of very good questions and are very concerned with our situation. The New Times published an article on Thursday, July 27th which is very informative. They also have a section in the Shredder regarding Dr. Borenstien’s response to the suggestion the Health Department conduct a health survey. Look for the section about half-way down that addresses this issue.
They recommended 3 amendments for consideration by SLO County and CAL FIRE. We will know sometime in August of they approved the recommendations.
Recommendations:
Consider reimbursement for residents who have had expenses installing their water systems as long as it has been related to PFAS.
Suggested the County Public Health Department do a health assessment of all residents affected by PFAS.
Suggested forming a community group of active participants regarding the PFAS issue.
July 16, 2023
PFAS affected well owners,
Next Friday, July 21 (@ 9:00am) is the Water Bd. meeting when the 5 Board members will decide whether to ratify the Voluntary Agreement between the Water Bd. and SLO Co. / Cal Fire, to start the clean up of PFAS from our water and wells, per the terms of the Voluntary Agreement.
July 21, 2023, Location for the Water Bd. meeting is:
Central Coast Water Board, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Whether you’ve sent in a response letter to the Board about the Voluntary Agreement or not, please consider attending this meeting. The Water Bd.’s decision to ratify, or not, will affect all water and wells affected by PFAS contamination from SLO Co. Airport fire fighting foam over the past forty years.
Personally, I believe SLO County and Cal Fire have ‘come to the table’, and are offering us as property owners our best case to - eventually - move towards effective cleanup from these forever chemicals. I also understand and appreciate that other property owners do not feel that having one whole year to install PFAS filter systems (wellhead systems, that are supposed to be either carbon (GAC), or Ion exchange) is much too long to begin taking action.
Whatever your beliefs, letting the Water Bd. know our perspectives on July 21 is an important date to have our voices heard. You do not have to signup in advance of the meeting to speak for 3 minutes to the Board, just fill out a comment card when you get to the meeting at the door.
Please consider attending this important meeting, as the Water Board will take action on PFAS and if they do ratify the Voluntary Agreement, SLO Co. / Cal Fire will begin initial steps to finally start cleaning up this contamination. Even if ratified, there will be many steps - over several years - that will beg for all our involvement to keep all officials focused on completing everything necessary to lead to a best outcome from this situation.
I hope to see as many of us speaking to the Board next Friday, July 21, starting at 9:00am.
Mike Oliveria
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Central Coast Water Board Agenda, July 21, 2023
The Central Coast Water Board will hold an in-person public meeting in San Luis Obispo, with a remote video conference option, on July 21, 2023. The meeting agenda notice can be found at the following website:
2023 Adopted Meeting Dates and Locations
Item 3 on the agenda is a hearing on San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport PFAS. The Water Board will decide whether to ratify an agreement reached between Water Board staff, San Luis Obispo County, and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection regarding PFAS contamination near the airport. There will be an opportunity for interested persons to provide comments to the Board. You are invited to participate either in person or by video conference. The item is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.
For anyone wishing to attend in person, the meeting will be held at:
Central Coast Water Board, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Information about participation via video conference can be found at:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralcoast/board_info/remote_meeting
July 6, 2023
Camillia Lanham, editor of The New Times interviewed Mike Oliveria and Kathy Borland and wrote a great article on PFAS in our groundwater. We have been trying to get media coverage on this very important issue and have had limited success. We appreciate Camillia for working hard to get all the facts and report responsibly!!
June 29, 2023 - Property Values! What happens???
Here is an article about the effects on property values when PFAS is present on the property. It is not conclusive but an interesting read!!
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/10406026.2021.1923926?needAccess=true&role=button
June 28, 2023
Mike Oliveira and Kathy Borland went on the Dave Congalton radio show today to talk about PFAS. Click here to listen to the podcast. We had an interesting conversation about PFAS and the effects it has on property owners, and the relationship with the County of SLO and the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board. Written comments are to be submitted to the Water Board by July 11, 2023.
June 27, 2023
Tentative Agreement Reached - SLO County Regional Airport PFAS
The Central Coast Water Board Cleanup Team has reached a tentative agreement with the County of San Luis Obispo (County) and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) related to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) discharged at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport.
The tentative agreement is available for download: https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/?surl=drlic.
The tentative agreement requires ratification by the Central Coast Water Board and commits the County and CAL FIRE to implement various investigation, remediation, and water replacement requirements associated with discharges of PFAS that affect groundwater below the airport and in nearby groundwater supply wells in lieu of the Central Coast Water Board potentially issuing a final cleanup and abatement order to the County and CAL FIRE with similar requirements. The Central Coast Water Board will consider ratification of the agreement at its meeting on July 21, 2023.
Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on the tentative agreement. Written submissions pertaining to the tentative agreement must be received by the Central Coast Water Board Site Cleanup Program, by email or hard copy, no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 11, 2023.
Emailed comments can be sent to Dean Thomas (dean.thomas@waterboards.ca.gov).
Hard copy comments can be sent to:
Central Coast Water Board, Attn: Dean Thomas, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
Central Coast Water Board Site Cleanup Program staff will present a summary of public comments timely received during the July 21, 2023, board meeting . Interested persons will have an additional opportunity to provide oral comments to the Board during the July 21, 2023, board meeting.
June 3, 2023
A group of Preserve the SLO Life met with Supervisor Ortiz-Legg to discuss the groundwater situation. As a result of that meeting she set up a meeting with the community at the Farm Bureau on May 22, 2023. It was well attended by the Buckley neighborhood and many county representatives were there. Peter Johnson was there from The New Times and published this article. We were very vocal about our goals to get the SLO County to pay for Carbon Granulated Filters at our well-heads. This is the only way to prevent continued contamination of PFAS into the groundwater.
Today we read about a $1.19 Billion settlement regarding PFAS and the manufacturers. June 2 (Reuters) - Chemours Co (CC.N), DuPont de Nemours Inc (DD.N) and Corteva Inc (CTVA.N) on Friday said they had reached an agreement in principle to settle claims that they contaminated U.S. public water systems with toxic "forever chemicals" for $1.19 billion.
The three chemical companies and several others are facing thousands of lawsuits in the U.S. over their alleged role in polluting the environment with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl, substances (PFAS) that have been used for decades in manufacturing a wide range of products, including nonstick coatings such as Teflon and firefighting foams.
May 3, 2023
The groundwater South-West of the SLO County Airport is contaminated with PFAS which is the result of FAA requiring firemen to practice putting out airplane fires with Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF) which contains PFAS. This activity has been going on since the 1970’s.
There are over 50 individual private property owners with PFAS contaminated wells in the Buckley Rd area. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (CCRWQCB), henseforth called The Water Board, has identified Cal Fire and SLO County as the responsible parties.
A Cleanup and Abatement Order (CAO) was issued to the responsible parties in February, 2023.
SLO County hired Roux to test the wells for PFAS in the Buckley Rd area. The Roux report is very detailed and has every Private Well (PW) by number and address. It also has maps to show where the wells are located. It gives all the PFAS levels in all the wells.
PFAS is the abbreviation used for a group of hundreds of man-made chemicals manufactured by 3M, DuPont, Dow, and other manufacturers that have been labeled as “forever chemicals” with dangerous toxins that have health and safety implications.
CA State Water Resources Board issues an Order to County of SLO in March, 2019 (Work Order 2019-005-DWQ) to investigate the presence of per-and polyfluoroalkl substances (PFAS) at SLO County Regional Airport along with airports throughout the state.
The Water Board had been alerted to the presence of PFAS chemicals in the Buckley Rd area private wells due to extensive water testing that began in 2015, regarding a separate chemical, TCE.
“Health effects associated with long-term exposure to PFAS include harmful effects to a developing fetus, or infant; damage to the immune system, thyroid and liver and cancer” (page 2 of Draft CAO, Feb. 16, 2023).
The US EPA is in process of lowering the Response Level (RL) from 70 ppt (parts per trillion) to 4 ppt due to the toxicity of PFAS. Response Level (RL) is defined as any level above the set RL is supposed to be unsafe for general household use. The wells in the Buckley Rd area registered from .28 ppt to 4700 ppt.. Any amount of PFAS in the water is considered unhealthy.
On April 25th, 2023 SLO County Airport (Courtney Johnson, Director) and SLO County legal council (Loeb & Loeb LLP, Los Angeles) issued a 5 page response to the Draft CAO to the Water Board.
Preserve the SLO Life has made a Fact Sheet to help everyone understand the timeline for discovering PFAS and how it affects the residents in the area.
The Tribune published an article on May 2, 2023 by MacKenzie Shuman. The article is very detailed and has great pictures.
The Water Board has many documents and maps on their website. Click here to go to their website. Click on “Site Maps / Documents” to see more information.
The Wall Street Journal published an article about PFAS the end of April, 2023. This is a national problem and impacts groundwater all over the United States.
Granulated Carbon Filter (GAC) systems located at the “well head” will filter out the PFAS contamination so all water used on a property will be PFAS free. Water filtration systems installed for house or kitchen use only allow other water uses to continue spreading PFAS contamination back into the groundwater. This reasoning is why The Water Board Draft CAO directs full replacement water as the correct resolution of PFAS contamination.