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Dramatic-Purpose-103 t1_j8xftxw wrote

Currently we get water from 3 sources: 1.) Mill Pond 2.) Vine Brook and 3.) MWRA. Our main sources of water are number one and two. Unfortunately, both number 1 and 2 are contaminated. They have high levels of PFAS's and other chemicals like dioxane. The water in town has been toxic for decades. Recently Massachusetts changed the acceptable level of PFAS'S that can be in a water source (In my opinion it should be zero as any is toxic, but MA allows up to 20 ppt). Burlington along with dozens of other Massachusetts communities were over that new limit. The town has been in process of installing a filter on Mill Pond that will hopefully filter out PFAS's to acceptable levels. Once that is done they will close down the Vine Brook facility. Additionally, they are in the process of building more pipelines to connect to MWRA. Right now we get 1 million gallons a day from MWRA, but I believe with the new pipeline they are hoping for 3 million. The Mill Pond filter supposed to be done in April. I forget when the new pipeline will be done. In the meantime, we have been using bottled water (from a company where we have vetted if they have PFAS and other chemicals in their water) for years for cooking and drinking. We do not consume the tap water (even for cooking). For showers and baths there's nothing we can do about it. Hopefully this new filter helps, but I still probably won't trust the water. I wish we could fully be on MWRA. Unfortunately, this is not a Burlington specific problem. Dozens of other communities in Massachusetts (most towns not on MWRA) have this same problem.

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