The Toxic Truth: Nantucket’s PFAS Crisis

Photo taken by Bobak Ha'Eri, August 2004. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

For generations, Nantucket, Massachusetts has cultivated an image as a pristine island escape. Known to tourists for its natural beauty and the perfect vacation getaway,its carefully maintained reputation is facing a profound threat: the widespread levels of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These substances are a class of human-made compounds used in firefighting foams, nonstick cookware, and water-resistant products, and are known for their longevity in the environment and human body. Long-term exposure to these chemicals has been linked to increased cancer risk, immune system suppression, and developmental issues. The chemicals have been detected across the island's drinking water sources, creating both a public health emergency and a reputational crisis for this exclusive community.

Recent testing has revealed a growing constellation of contamination sites across the island, with numerous cases registering levels that dramatically exceed the state's stringent safety threshold of 20 parts per trillion indicating that the area is highly contaminated with PFAS.

PFAS was identified in multiple critical locations in the island, including the Nantucket Fire Department training area, the airport, and the former Madaket landfill. PFAS contamination can be traced to two primary sources. For decades, firefighting training relied on aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF), depositing large quantities of PFAS directly into nearby soil. At the same time, industrial products such as non-stick materials and waterproof fabrics have steadily released PFAS into the environment as they are washed or disposed of. Everyday consumer products such as non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, and food packaging are renowned for their resistance to water, heat, and stains are also known for their inability to break down in the environment.

PFAS can also seep into groundwater through a process called leaching, which is when chemicals are washed out of a material through water and carried into the soil. PFAS dissolve easily in water and are unable to physically break down. Instead, they move through the soil and will eventually reach groundwater. Their strong carbon-fluorine bonds allow them to persist for decades, seeping through the island’s sandy and porous soil directly into the sole-source aquifer, an underground water supply that provides a majority of the drinking water for a specific region, creating a pervasive public health hazard.

"The detections we are seeing are a serious cause for concern," a town official stated in a public update on the Nantucket government's PFAS information portal. According to the Nantucket Town Government, the immediate response has been two-fold: providing an emergency supply of bottled water to residents with contaminated private wells and public wells taken offline, while simultaneously launching a long-term project to install advanced granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration systems on impacted public wells. This is a costly and complex endeavor for a municipality with limited resources, involving millions of dollars in capital investment for the filtration systems themselves, in addition to ongoing operational costs for monitoring, maintenance, and disposal of the PFAS-laden filter media. The logistical challenges are amplified by the island's remote location, which can delay the shipment of equipment and specialized personnel, prolonging the timeline for making water supplies safe again.

The scale of the problem has prompted significant community-led action. The Nantucket Land & Water Council (NLWC), a local non-profit, has launched the Nantucket PFAS Well Project, a proactive initiative to provide free PFAS testing for private well owners who fall outside the scope of public water system monitoring. This program has helped in mapping the true extent of PFAS contamination which extends far beyond initial findings. 

The Nantucket PFAS Well Project  offers confidential and free testing effectively creating a crowd-sourced map of the contamination that official monitoring misses. The findings have been sobering, with detections frequently appearing in areas not previously suspected. This project hopes to empower residents to take the necessary steps to protect their families’ health immediately and provide information to the entire community. It aims to help others understand the full geographical scope and movement of this crisis. This data is already being used to inform the town's broader remediation planning and prioritize areas for future public water line extensions.

The Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) reported the Town of Nantucket made the significant choice of hiring a dedicated PFAS Administrative Officer, a new position funded in part by a $150,000 grant. The position requires a background in environmental health and is qualified to manage water testing and oversee mitigation plans. The role is tasked with navigating the complex application processes for state revolving funds and federal grants from agencies like the EPA. Beyond securing crucial funding, the officer chosen will serve as a central point of contact for residents, helping guide them through the options for private well testing, interpreting results, and understanding the pros and cons of different home filtration systems.

The position is also tasked with coordinating long-term planning efforts, such as assessing the feasibility of extending municipal water lines to the most severely affected neighborhoods to ensure the mitigation strategy is both technically feasible and sustainable over time. 

As the Boston Globe noted in its coverage of the hiring, this move signals that the island is treating the contamination not as a temporary setback, but as a long-term structural challenge requiring specialized leadership. The officer's mandate is to cut through bureaucracy and accelerate the pace of remediation and protection for the community.

The crisis on the island is a microcosm of a much larger problem confronting the Commonwealth. From Cape Cod to the Berkshires, communities across Massachusetts are discovering PFAS in their water supplies. The so-called "forever chemicals" have been linked to a range of adverse health effects, including an increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer, liver damage, immune system suppression, and developmental delays in children.

"This isn't just a Nantucket issue; it's a statewide public health emergency," said a representative from the PFAS Action Group, a community advocacy organization. "Every community that uses these products, particularly firefighting foams, is potentially at risk. The question isn't if we'll find more contamination, but where we'll find it next."

The situation has also triggered legal scrutiny, with law firms like Fogelman & Magliozzi, LLC, noting that the "extremely concerning" detections in  Nantucket highlight a potential failure of state public health officials to protect public health and property, potentially opening the door to litigation against multinational manufacturers who produce  and profit  from the distribution and sale of these toxic chemicals.. Potential lawsuits could allege that these companies concealed research into the health and environmental risks of PFAS, thereby neglecting their responsibility  to warn the public. Furthermore, the town itself, alongside the affected homeowners and businesses, may have the grounds to pursue cost recovery claims. The claims would then seek damages to cover public health response expenses, including the installation of filtration systems, ongoing water quality monitoring, and loss of property value for residents. 

For Nantucket residents, the news is both frightening and disillusioning. The island's identity and economy are deeply tied to its perception as a clean, safe, natural environment. The presence of a widespread, human-made toxin undermines a core part of its appeal and sense of place. As the island grapples with multi-million dollar clean-up efforts, a shaken sense of security, and the ongoing work of its new PFAS officer, its struggle serves as a cautionary tale for communities across Massachusetts. The response to PFAS contamination has evolved into a sustained and expensive effort, revealing the tension between Nantucket’s image of pristine natural resources and the complex realities of managing environmental contaminants.