For months now, Verona has been working to make a costly upgrade to its drinking water filtration since it was notified that it was out of compliance on Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), one of a family of chemicals known as PFAS. To help residents better understand these substances, which are colloquially known as “forever chemicals,” the Verona Environmental Commission (VEC) will be holding a free webinar on PFAS on Wednesday, February 2, at 7 p.m.
PFAS were created in the late 1940s and came to be used in things like non-stick pans and firefighting foams. According to the VEC, they are now found in everything from laundry detergent to fast food packaging, makeup, and even in dental floss.
The PFAS webinar will be led by Dr. Fuad Dahan, a VEC member and principal at SESI Consulting Engineers, whose experience in environmental matters has included brownfield site remediation, environmental treatment system applications, design, research, and monitoring. Dr. Dahan has worked on federal, state, and corporate projects.
In years past, Verona has gotten its drinking water from wells on the west side of town and then mixed that water with water from a reservoir in the Passaic Valley Water Commission system. When the town went out of compliance on PFAS last year, the wells were shut down; all Verona water now comes only from a reservoir. The town government notified all households of the change and has since sent out regular notices about PFAS substances in drinking water.
Verona fell out of compliance on PFAS after the state of New Jersey made its standard for PFAS contamination more stringent than that of the federal government. The federal standard is 70 parts per trillion (PPT), while that of New Jersey is 14 PPT. At the time it went out of state compliance’s Verona ranged between 20.4 and 28.4 PPT. Verona posts all water quality reports here.
The webinar will be held on Zoom and you can watch it here.
