AUGUSTA, MAINE, March 13, 2025 — On January 23, 2025, the Department sampled the well located at the Mere Creek Golf Course, located southwest of the runway at the former Naval Air Station Brunswick. The concentration of the sum of six PFAS included in the Maine Interim Drinking Water Standard (PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHXS, PFHPA, and PFDA) totaled 33.1 ng/L (same as parts per trillion or ppt). PFOS was 19.9 ng/L, which exceeds the new USEPA PFOS MCL of 4 ng/L (enforceable in 2029) as well as the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) 12 ng/L criterion for initiating actions to address private drinking water wells impacted by PFAS from DoD activities.
Previous sampling of this well by the Navy and the Department in November 2015 and by the Navy in November 2021 showed the sum of 6 PFAS at concentrations of 20.85 ng/L and 19.21 ng/L, respectively. PFOS was the dominant PFAS in the samples.
The Navy has performed a cursory investigation of this general area of the base, but it is not detailed enough to determine whether the PFAS in the golf course well is a result of past Navy activities. The source of the PFAS in this well is currently unknown but predates the August 19, 2024 AFFF release from Hangar 4.
On February 27, 2025, the Department issued a letter to the Navy to provide the most recent sampling results and to notify the Navy that additional investigation in this area is warranted to both identify the source of contamination and to ensure nearby residential wells are not at risk of impacts from PFAS. The DEP has also requested that the Navy sample private wells located approximately 1,000 feet from the golf course as part of the Navy's investigation. The letter from DEP to the Navy can be found on the DEP website at https://www.maine.gov/dep/projects/bnas/index.html.
Ownership of the Mere Creek Golf course was transferred from the Navy to MRRA in 2012, details of which can be found in the Finding of Suitability to Transfer FOST 2012-1 document, available at https://www.maine.gov/dep/gis/datamaps/brwm_bnas/FOST%202012-1%20Final%2024MAY12.pdf. The well servicing the Mere Creek Golf course was previously regulated as a transient public water supply (PWS ID94492101) but was deemed a private water supply well around the time of transfer because the facility did not use the water for consumption or food preparation.
DEP continues to monitor surface water for PFAS at five established sample locations in Merriconeag Stream. The Department has received 19 sets of sample results with the most recent reported data collected on January 23, 2025. Results continue to be posted on the Department’s website: AFFF Release at Brunswick Executive Airport web map. Fluctuations in concentrations continue to occur. Results from the January, 2025 sample event showed marginal increases compared to data collected the previous month.
February’s samples were collected from sample locations SW-11, SW-17, and SW-23 in Merriconeag stream on February 21, 2025 and will be added to the web map in the near future. Winter conditions continue to prevent access to sample location SW-66, last sampled on December 12, 2024. Winter conditions also prevented access to SW-65 during the February sample event.
