The bill received unanimous support in the Senate last month, but has sat in the House as lawmakers focus on reaching a budget deal.

“I will push for this” to receive a vote on Monday or Tuesday, said State Representative Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, co-chair of the environment committee. A deal on the budget “would take a lot of air out of the room,” he said.

Affected sites are increasing

Meanwhile, Killingworth officials said on Wednesday that further testing in the area around town hall found levels of PFAS chemicals in 10 wells exceeding action levels set by the Department of Public Health at 70 parts per trillion.

The results pushed the total number of sites in Killingworth where PFAS levels exceeded standards to 14, following similar finds in two private wells in April, as well as in the town hall’s public water supplies and in a community of prefabricated houses.

Residents whose private wells have been tested above action levels are currently receiving bottled water, officials said. The public water supply used by the community of Beechwood is treated well below intervention levels before it reaches the tap, while town hall water is not used for consumption.

“Obviously, residents whose wells were tested to a high standard were concerned,” said Catherine Iino, First Selectwoman of Killingworth. “They get together to decide what to do.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has tested 62 private wells in the city, including a new round of tests on 15 wells induced by the results announced this week. They have not yet been announced.

What are PFAS?

The chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are found in a variety of household items, such as food packaging and non-stick products, including Teflon. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, they are also added to special fire-fighting foams used on fuel-based fires at airports, military bases and chemical factories, where they can become a major source of groundwater contamination.

Because chemicals are designed to break down very slowly, they can build up in the bodies of animals and humans, causing potentially harmful health effects.

Legislation is needed

“What is happening in Killingworth is a perfect example of why we need to pass this legislation and start moving towards eliminating these harmful chemicals,” Senator Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, said in a post. text Thursday. The district of Cohen includes the town of Killingworth. She also co-chairs the environment committee.

Iino said officials investigating PFAS levels in local wells had yet to identify the source of the contamination, although firefighters stopped using foams containing these chemicals decades ago.

With no known source, Iino said townspeople are developing their own explanations. “I’ve heard a lot of theories, from someone who said it was on treated road salt. … Some say that in Massachusetts there were spraying pesticides “that could have gone into the rivers,” Iino said.

PFAS in the news

The issue of PFAS contamination caught the attention of Connecticut lawmakers in 2019, following two incidents at Bradley International Airport that resulted in chemicals leaking into the nearby Farmington River.

In June, an accidental spill of fire fighting foam at the airport prompted Governor Ned Lamont to form a task force to study ways to prevent future spills and limit exposure to chemicals.

Before this task force could complete its work, however, a World War II bomber crashed at the airport in October and started a fire that firefighters sprayed with thousands of gallons of foam containing PFAS. It drained into the storm sewers and eventually ended up in the Farmington River, WNPR reported.

The final report produced by the governor’s task force called for further testing of PFAS chemicals in public water supplies and private wells, as well as a reduction in industrial sources of chemicals.

The governor’s office did not respond to a question about the PFAS bill.

“It lasts forever”

In testimony to lawmakers in February, DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said the agency “supports the concept of this bill because minimizing the use of fire-fighting foam containing PFAS will reduce future releases of PFAS, a class of emerging contaminants with potential risks to human health. “

The bill before the House would immediately ban the use of firefighting foams containing added PFAS chemicals during testing or training exercises. The ban would be extended to almost all firefighting uses on October 1, unless specific entities receive an extension of DEEP, or Dykes is unable to identify alternatives to current foams.

The ban would not apply to airports, which are required by federal law to use firefighting foams containing PFAS. If federal regulations change, however, airports would be required to stop using the foams within one year.

The bill also directs Dykes to establish a statewide take-back program for municipality-owned fire-fighting foams to ensure their safe disposal. Manufacturers and retailers, meanwhile, are said to be urged to stop selling food packaging containing added PFAS by the end of 2023.

The legislation has received support from many environmental groups in public testimony submitted to lawmakers. The Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and local authorities have also expressed support for limiting the use of PFAS chemicals.

“The more we can get it off the road, the better, for Killingworth and for every location,” said Iino. “Mainly because it lasts forever.”