Commissioner Sharkey’s Water Email to Cheltenham Residents

Commissioner Drew Sharkey for Ward 1 in Cheltenham  Township posted a link to his 2nd email update to residents, including a response afrom Aqua.


Good afternoon:

Please read and feel free to share. Reminder, please attend Representative McCarter’s community meeting at 7 pm this evening at the Cheltenham High School Little Theater.  Please thank him for hosting this important meeting.

The following is an unedited email I received from Chris Crockett, VP and Chief Environmental Officer of Aqua. This was in response to an email I sent to Aqua asking for an update based on the many questions you posed.

Please know the Pur and Brita filters meet the description offered below. I spoke with the President of Aqua minutes ago and informed him I would like to share the email. He willingly agreed and I thank him.

You can see results of the Abington Well by visiting http://www.waterfacts.com/monitoring

I look forward to seeing you this evening.  I will keep you updated as information becomes available.  

Truly yours,

Drew Sharkey
Commissioner

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Drew thank you for reaching out. Marc Lucca will call you. The North Hills well was always below the EPA Health Advisory of 70ppt. It averaged around 40ppt of PFOA & PFOS combined.

North Hills well water is replaced with our Abington well.

The levels from the Abington well (11ppt of PFOS/PFOA) which replaced the North Hills well water is below the most stringent proposed standard in the US right now by NJDEP. NJDEP proposed a limit of 13ppt for PFOS and 14 ppt for PFOA. That well has always been below it. The detection limit of the analytical method is about 2-5ppt depending on the lab and at these ultra low levels there is some variability in results from the measurement method which means a sample result can vary by +/- 20% easily. This means that that area is now served by water that is now close to non-detect.

We will be sampling to confirm that moving forward and share that information.

Also, we spoke to CDC and got more information since Thursday. CDC says “ATSDR still believes that the EPA lifetime health advisory is protective of public health, including sensitive populations.”

Also CDC has provided information that suggests that home devices such as tap/faucet, refrigerator, or pitchers using granular activated carbon or reverse osmosis or some combination can reduce PFAS levels in water if you maintain it. In many cases to non detect. Just remember to change them out as frequently as recommended by the manufacturer so they remain most effective. This gives the person that wants to take personal action an option to use something they already have in their home in most cases if they want additional protection.