Crews will break ground Monday on a $1 million water line extension designed to provide clean water to half a dozen residents in The Crandall Road area whose wells test extremely high for the presence of PFAS chemicals.

The work, paid for with a $992,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant program, is expected to be the first of many improvements designed to alleviate the PFAS issue in Tiverton. All told, work could cost $20 million or more, ac
North Tiverton Fire District officials selected Boyle and Fogarty Construction as the contractor for the line, which was designed by Pare Engineering. According to town administrator Patrick Jones, the work will be centered around the fire station on Crandall Road and when the work is done the line will serve homes that have tested 1,600 parts per trillion or higher for PFAS; the state standard for PFAS in water is 20 parts per trillion. Jones said water filtration systems would not work on these homes due to the severity of the contamination — six in all.

At a meeting Tuesday, Jones thanked federal officials for their quick attention and securing needed funds to get the work started.

“They made sure that attention was paid to Tiverton so we could get this water line in the ground, hopefully before first snowfall,” Jones said.

DEM officials said at the meeting that currently, 110 homes have tested over 20 ppt, and officials have been working to supply all homes over the standard, but under 1600 ppt, with water filtration systems. Kirsten Nunn of the DEM said that state officials have also widened the testing radius out from the fire station.

“The area that we have stepped out to is up to Glendale Road on the north down to Bucks Way in the south,” she said.

More to come
Looking ahead from the first phase beginning Monday, town, state, federal and fire district officials hope to continue projects to improve the water system, including more waterline extensions to connect residents who want to be hooked up to town water. Other plans include adding additional water storage capacity to the North Tiverton Fire District's infrastructure and continuing talks with members of the Stonebridge Water District regarding water capacity for all residents in the town.

According to Jones, the potential project could take years and cost upwards of $20 million to address. He indicated that town and fire district officials plan to seek additional funding through USDA grants and will proceed based on how much money they receive.

“For today, our goal is to get everyone who's been impacted by safe drinking water. Whether that's a well or public drinking water,” Jones said. “This is going to be a long-term conversation and a long-term effort moving forward.”

That conversation won't just include paid officials, but residents themselves. including Michelle Reffelt, whose well is affected by PFAS and who founded a citizens' group aimed at helping raise funds.

“We need to keep going," she said at Tuesday's meeting. "We need more funding, and we can’t stop here. We are going to create a letter-writing campaign. We can just start pummeling them with letters requesting funds.”

Delays
Jones said residents should expect delays if they travel on Crandall Road during the construction, and said police will announce any road closures before they occur.
Jones also said that the town has begun to work with an environmental engineer, Dr. Dennis D’Amore, and DEM officials on finding the source of the contamination.

Jones said that they still believe that the fire station on Crandall Road is the likely source.

“We want to test the soil, we want to test the well, and we’re working with the doctor and the DEM to, in that next phase, be able to accomplish that.”