BRUNSWICK

The Navy continues testing for contaminants in residential wells, now focusing on residences near Bath Road portions of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.

According to Bill Franklin of the Base Realignment and Closure program, 27 wells have been tested so far on the Coombs Road side of the former base — all of which tested negative or within safe parameters for polyfluoroalkyl substances, specifically the subset, perfluorinated chemicals commonly known as PFCs.

Franklin said test results were sent to the homeowners as well.

PFCs are a component used in firefighting equipment. In this case, the use of aqueous film-forming foam, known as AFFF.

Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority Director Steve Levesque said AFFF is a growing concern for any community with an airport or local fire departments who utilize foam. Levesque likened it to the next asbestos.

“They still use it — they’ve trained with it. So, Logan, Portland and Bangor — they’ve all got AFFF. You’ve got firefighting academies where they’ve trained with it but a lot of communities of size use firefighting foam to fight commercial fires and if there’s a big fire on a highway, they’ll use that foam because it’s effective,” Levesque said.

Franklin concurred, saying most emergency response vehicles carry foam for fighting aircraft fires, much like the military AFFF.

“Wherever they’ve trained with it, it’s gotten into the groundwater. We dodged a big bullet on this property compared to other properties because none of the production wells in the area have much impact,” Levesque said, noting thus far, contamination has been localized to certain parts of the former base.

Franklin said contamination has been found on the northern and eastern portions of the base that was deemed above health advisory levels.

“To the Navy’s credit, they’ve really got out and gone above and beyond. They’ve been very proactive about it and I give them a lot of credit for doing it,” Levesque said.

The only private well on the property is located at Mere Creek Golf Course and, despite its close proximity to the airfield, the club house well has tested negative for PFCs.

As for properties at Brunswick Landing, Levesque said all transfers come with a covenant on the deed, prohibiting owners from drawing groundwater. The covenant is a superfluous measure, according to Levesque as all properties are currently hooked up to town water.

“A covenant that goes in someone’s deed is probably the strongest thing you can do. You have covenants all around the community — the town office and where Maine Street Station is — there’s a covenant there about using groundwater. It’s not just here,” Levesque said.

Levesque said the restriction hasn’t really affected property sales and the rare case where a potential buyer wants to drill a well, Levesque said he refers them elsewhere.

Asked how Brunswick sizes up against other former military bases in terms of contamination, Franklin said it’s too difficult to quantify with many variables in the different properties involved.

According to Franklin, the next round of testing will take place late August into September.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com