5 years after Benner Township water contamination investigation, residents still waiting for solutions

About five years after an investigation into chemicals in a local neighborhood’s groundwater, Benner Township residents are still waiting for a remedy, with many unsatisfied by an agreement they say fails to hold Penn State accountable.

The consent order and agreement, created in November by the university and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, identified Penn State as responsible for the release of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, into Walnut Grove Estate’s water supply through the leakage of a firefighting foam that had been used during training at the Penn State owned and operated State College Regional Airport.

In Walnut Grove Estates, a development located in Benner Township near the State College Regional Airport, 39 homes are affected by the PFAS water contamination. Per the proposed agreement, Penn State would have to pay about $565,000 to DEP for response costs.

Also known as a “forever chemical,” PFAS have been known to cause averse medical effects, such as increased risk of cancer, thyroid problems, higher risk childbirth complications. Health concerns have also come up in the Walnut Grove community since the DEP first started their PFAS investigation five years ago, according to comments in the consent order and agreement.

The pending agreement was subjected to a 60-day public comment period by the Walnut Grove Estates residents, who are represented by attorney Christine Line. The comment period ended Feb. 12, and 14 residents left comments on the ways they believe the agreement is inadequate.

“Walnut Grove Estates residents have consumed toxic water that DEP and/or PSU knew or had reason to know were contaminated and failed to properly inform the residents of the contamination in a timely manner so that they could take remedial measures to prevent ingestion and exposure to these ‘forever chemicals,’” the consent order overview states, adding that the order and agreement fails to hold Penn State fully accountable for the release of the PFAs.

Line and her clients hope that the DEP will revise the consent order and agreement so that the concerns of the residents are more properly addressed, and that Penn State faces greater consequences.

Penn State spokesman Wyatt DuBois did not comment on the agreement, the public comments or possible revisions, writing in an email to the CDT that the DEP is tasked with the responsibility of responding to the public comments.

A temporary fix for a larger problem

One of residents’ largest concerns about the consent order and agreement relates to how Penn State would bring potable water to Walnut Grove Estates.

In the agreement, Penn State has been tasked with carrying out a remedial response to the contamination, which includes temporarily providing clean water to Walnut Grove through two possible means — by supplying the residents with bottled water, or by maintaining a point-of-entry treatment (POET) system that filters PFAS out of the water.

Those systems can be attached to a faucet, a pipe under the sink or a water line, and filter out PFAS and other substances through either reverse osmosis or carbon filters that serve as a sponge to trap PFAS molecules.

Many of the families living in the affected homes went with the latter option.

If DEP decides that the consent order and agreement is adequate after reviewing the comments from residents, the temporary POET systems will be deemed as a “final remedy” to the PFAS problem.

That means that Penn State will be in charge of maintaining the POET systems for two years, given that eight quarterly water quality test results come back below the acceptable amount of PFAS levels, which, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, sits at four parts-per-trillion.

After those two years are up, the affected families will have to maintain the POET systems on their own.

“These POET systems are complicated, expensive and difficult to maintain, and they need professional monitoring, including regular, costly monitoring to see if they’re working properly,” Benner Township resident and Sierra Club Moshannon Group member David Roberts said at a packed Benner Township meeting earlier this month. “(The POET’s) filtration canisters saturated with PFAS are deemed as toxic waste, and must then be dealt with by a certified hazardous waste disposal company.”

Penn State “must not be relieved of a responsibility to install, maintain and monitor these poet systems,” Roberts said.

If the consent order and agreement moves forward without revision, it would also require the owners of the houses to mark their property deeds as “hazardous contaminated sites.”

That requirement, according to Line, would last “a heck of a lot longer” than the university’s two-year maintenance obligation, and would continue to decrease the affected homeowners’ property values.

“With the effect of deed-marking being permanent, so too should the financial costs of maintaining clean water be borne by (Penn State) permanently,” a consent order and agreement comment reads. “There is additionally no language concerning water filtration system failures and who is responsible for the cost of payment.”

There is also nothing in the consent order and agreement that addresses what could happen to residents that leak PFAS-contaminated water from their property after Penn State’s potential two-year maintenance period is up. That means that residents could be sued for leaking the toxic substance in the future, even though Penn State was deemed the responsible party for the initial PFAS contamination.

Line, residents and the Benner Township Water Authority hope that Penn State will be made to pay for a more permanent solution, such as a water line from a neighboring water authority into the development — although that solution has temporarily been put on hold.

According to a 2023 feasibility study performed by Benner Township to explore that solution, the State College Borough Water Authority was deemed the most capable authority to install a new water line to the development, but the authority decided not to install the line due to “the high cost of operation and maintenance,” according to a longtime Benner Township Water Authority member Thomas Eby.

Eby also said that the SCBWA could reconsider their stance on the matter if Penn State were made to pay for the construction and maintenance of a new water line in an revised consent order and agreement — which, he said, is a real possibility.

“Right now, based on the last few talks that I had with them, Penn State is willing to pay for the construction of a new line, provided that they’re able to secure the funding through grants ... ” Eby said at a Feb. 3 Benner Township meeting. “Nothing is official yet though, those are just talks. However, if they’re serious, that could definitely be a possible way forward, because (the Benner Township Water Authority) can’t afford to take on a project that huge all by itself.”

Soil remediation, health concerns and more

While the loose consequences for Penn State’s actions continue to be questioned, another issue brought up by residents in the consent order and agreement comments is what’s being done — or not being done— in regards to possible PFAS soil contamination.

“The (agreement) fails to indicate that any soil testing was performed in the WGE community and, as PFAS has been found in residential soils via private testing, this should be a part of the (agreement) and contamination remediation,” a comment in the consent order and agreement reads. “This is especially important as soils will be disrupted by an incoming sewer project through the contaminated development.”

Line and the Walnut Grove Estates residents hope that after reading their comments, DEP and Penn State will revise the consent order and agreement so that it requires soil testing and the potential “isolation, sequester and/or the non-removal” of contaminated soils from the area, to another site.

Comments in the consent order and agreement also ask for it to address Spring Creek and Bald Eagle Creek contamination. A 2022-2024 PFAS Surface Water Survey performed by the Sierra Club Moshannon Group shows that the surface waters of those creeks are contaminated with PFAS as well, at levels greater than the EPA’s guidelines.

“The (agreement) should require frequent and periodic testing of (the creeks) to confirm that the contamination levels are below allowable limits,” a comment states. “Further, warning signs should be posted throughout the investigation area and in particular areas of recreation, informing hunters, anglers and recreational swimmers of the contamination and its known impact upon one’s health if exposure occurs.”

The health effects that PFAS has had on Walnut Grove residents is another serious issue, with the comments on the consent order and agreement noting that the agreement fails to establish any medical monitoring for affected residents. Thyroid issues have affected some of the residents, Line said, and according to the submitted comments, the blood tests of many of Walnut Grove Estates’ residents have displayed positive results for PFAS.

What’s next?

Upon receiving the submitted comments on the consent order and agreement, DEP, in accordance with the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act — the act that dictates DEP’s conversations with Penn State — will review the comments and prepare a response document.

According to Megan Lehman, the spokesperson for the DEP North Central Region, the comment response document will include the DEP’s responses to each comment, and will be posted on the Benner Township HSCA Investigation website when completed.

There’s no timeline for completion of the DEP’s review of the comments.

“If, based on the comments received, it is determined that any changes should be made to the (agreement), DEP will discuss those with PSU, as the agreement is a negotiated document...” Lehman wrote. “DEP will continue to work with the responsible party and affected residents as we move forward to finalize and implement the (agreement.)”

Updates on the consent order and agreement’s status will also be shared at future Benner Township meetings, which are held at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month.