Water test shows high levels of PFAS in the Winooski River
Salmon Hole, a popular fishing site near downtown Winooski, is highly contaminated;
Vermont Air National Guard Base is likely suspect.
By Pat Elder
November 13, 2021
Marguerite Adelman and Bob Ackland, holding a sample of river water on the Winooski River, in October, 2021
Perhaps one day Vermonters will realize the magnitude of this catastrophe.
Marguerite Adelman and her husband Bob Ackland with Military Poisons Vermont say they found 148.5 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFAS in the waters of the Salmon Hole of the Winooski River, a popular fishing destination in Winooski, Vermont. The contaminated river water contained 40.5 ppt for the 5 PFAS chemicals regulated in Vermont and 37.8 ppt for PFOS specifically.
(PFAS are per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances; PFOS is Perfluoro octane sulfonic acid)
The couple used test kits manufactured by Cyclopure, a testing firm from Skokie, Illinois. Cyclopure has received funding from the EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to develop PFAS testing technologies.
These substances are used in fire-fighting foams and other applications at the Vermont Air National Guard base. The historic burn pit on base is very close to the river, a mile and a half upstream from the Salmon Hole. The Air Force has known of the destructive nature of these chemicals - and has known of ways to treat the chemicals before they are released into the environment for nearly 50 years and continues to use them and discard them into the environment.
“The state must immediately test the fish in the river. When they’ve got new data, they ought to release it immediately,” said Adelman. She explained that several varieties of PFAS, especially PFOS, bioaccumulate in fish tissue, threatening the health of people who consume the fish. The couple lives on the river, 600 feet from the Salmon Hole. (Fishing at the Salmon Hole)
The river provides a habitat for many varieties of fish, like the landlocked Atlantic salmon, steelhead rainbow trout, walleye, smallmouth bass, rock bass, and white perch. They’re all likely to be poisoned by the chemicals.
Vermont regulates five types of PFAS: PFOS, PFOA, PFHpA, PFHxS, and PFNA - in drinking water and groundwater, limiting their total concentration under 20 ppt. Groundwater on base was detected at concentrations of 179,000 for PFOS and PFOA, according to VT Digger.
The state can not sue the Air Force for non-compliance and neither can private landowners like South Burlington dairy farmer John Belter who is suing the City of Burlington, rather than the Air Force. Belter’s well is severely contaminated by PFAS in groundwater coming from the base. The Vermont Air National Guard leases a portion of the Burlington International Airport owned by the city.
The Air Force has claimed “sovereign immunity” in US District Court cases that have attempted to seek compensation for damages arising from the chemicals. The Air Force claims it has the right to poison people and the environment due to national security considerations.
Contaminated surface water threatens public health
Vermont does not regulate PFAS in surface water and the EPA is still asleep at the switch, despite all of the recent bluster from the Biden White House.
According to a report released by the Vermont Air National Guard in September, 2020, a drainage gully near the airport runway that empties toward the Winooski River contained concentrations of 13,406 ppt for the five compounds. Water with concentrations of 549.4 ppt for five regulated chemicals was collected in the river at the base.
According to the report completed by the engineering firm, Parsons, the combined sum of PFOS, PFOA, PFHpA, PFHxS, and PFNA in samples “collected at locations on the opposite bank, upstream, and downstream in the Winooski River were all below 20 ng/L (20 ppt) indicating that impacts to surface water are isolated to a defined stretch of the river adjacent to and near the Base on the Base-side of the river only.”
Key - The red dots are the locations of test results released by the military based on the total of the five regulated PFAS compounds in Vermont. (PFOS, PFOA, PFHpA, PFHxS, and PFNA). The black X shows where Adelman and Ackland sampled water at the Salmon Hole. The top figure represents concentrations of the five regulated compounds. - graphic by Military Poisons
Surface water from each of the five areas on base where fire-fighting foams were used continue to discharge toward the Winooski River. The Red X by the runway shows the location of the burn pit with the highest levels of PFAS. You can see the streams leaving the runway and traveling northwest to the Winooski.
The Air Force tested the water upstream from the area that receives most of the run - off from the base. In essence, they’re telling the community that the highest levels of the five compounds recorded in the river near Muddy Brook Park - 549.4 ppt - are quickly diluted. A glance at maps produced by Parsons leads the public to assume that the river is mostly free of the chemicals by the time waters reach the Interstate 89 bridge.
In early 2020, two prominent Vermont news outlets, Seven Days and VT Digger downplayed the threat posed by PFAS in the river.
From Seven Days: Richard Spiese, a hazardous site manager with the state Department of Environmental Conservation says that “human health is not immediately at risk unless someone were to catch and eat fish from the small tributaries most affected, which he notes is unlikely.”
Seven Days reported, “Once the contaminated water reaches the Winooski, however, it is quickly diluted. Tests in the Winooski downstream from the tributaries of concern showed levels below 10 parts per trillion, just slightly higher than the levels detected in the river above the base. Spiese said he was “relieved” that numbers in the Winooski itself are so low, and he doubts that the state will respond by issuing an order not to eat fish from the river.”
VT Digger reported: State environmental regulators learned from the new inspection report that PFAS levels in the Winooski just downstream of where contaminated water feeds in are not much higher than the background amounts. The river is about a quarter mile from the base. Spiese (from DEC) said that contamination from the base adds around one or two parts per trillion for the five PFAS compounds regulated by the state — roughly doubling the background levels of PFAS in the state’s largest river.
Spiese said he now knows that levels in the Winooski are below the range being discussed for that standard. “My fear originally was it might be high enough that … I’d have to do a ‘Do not fish order’ or something like that,” said Spiese.”
The new tests show the chemicals have traveled one and a half miles downstream to the Salmon Hole at concentrations that are twice the regulatory limit for the five regulated PFAS in drinking water and ground water.
The South Burlington - Airport Parkway Wastewater Treatment Facility is permitted to discharge treated wastewater into the Winooski River. This effluent is likely to contain PFAS.
Bioaccumulation
How high can we expect the levels of these carcinogens to be in Winooski fish? If bioaccumulation factors are 1,000 times ambient water levels for PFOS, we may expect fish with 40,000 ppt at the Salmon Hole. New Hampshire just set fish advisories for fish containing 7,400 ppt of PFOS.
PFOS bioaccumulates in fish tissue when surface water levels are barely detectable and this is how public health is most threatened by these chemicals. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says that surface water levels throughout the Badger state that exceed 2 ppt of PFAS pose a threat to human health. The Europeans say levels above .65 ppt for PFOS are cause for alarm - and regulation.
Bioaccumulation factors are calculated as the ratio of the concentration of PFAS in fish tissue to its concentration in the ambient water. PFOS is believed to be the most bioaccumulative of all PFAS chemicals. Bioaccumulation factors account for fish near some military bases containing nearly 10 million parts per trillion of the toxins. Smaller fish in the tributaries leaving the base are likely to be loaded with the toxins. Little fish are eaten big fish while the chemicals continue to accumulate.
Examine this chart showing selected PFOS concentrations in fish and water.
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PFOS concentrations in selected Surface Waters and Fish (in ppt)
State Location Fish Water Fish/Water
New Jersey Little Pine Lake 99,800 100 998
Wisconsin Truax AFB 92,300 53.3 1,731
Maryland Pax River, Navy 23,100 13.5 1,711
Maine Loring AFB 1,080,000 445.6 2,423
Vermont Burlington ANG ------- 370 -------
Vermont Winooski - ------- 37.8 -------
Salmon Hole
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The Delaware River Basin Commission published a study in 2021 that analyzed concentrations of PFOS in water and fish in multiple locations. Most of the river basin contains PFOS levels up to 13 parts per trillion while the fish fillets throughout the watershed averaged approximately 1,000 times that concentration.
In the Schussen River in Germany, water samples for PFOS are below 20 ppt while PFOS concentrations in trout exceed 30,000 ppt.
Fish from 8 bayou locations were examined near the extraordinarily poisoned Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana. Water levels ranged from roughly 200 ppt to 2,000 ppt, while the PFOS concentrations in fish ranged from 800,000 parts per trillion to nearly 2,500,000 ppt.
Stare at this for a minute.
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Winooski River Results from VTANG and Military Poisons
Compound Air Force Military Poison
Winooski River Salmon Hole
(Five PFAS compounds regulated by Vermont)
PFOS 370 37.8
PFOA 28 1
PFHxS 140 <1
PFHpA 9.2 <1
PFNA 2.2 (549.4) 1.7 (40.5)
(Other PFAS compounds tested)
PFUnA ------ 43.5*
PFDoA ------ 36.6**
PFDA ------ 12.3
PFTrDA ------ 4.4
N-MeFOSAA ------ 3.2
NEtFOSAA ------ 2.7
PFBA 10 2
PBSA ------ 1.7
PFDS ------ 1.6
PFBS 16 <1
PFHpA ------ <1
PFHxA 31 <1
PFPeA 16 <1
PFTeA ------ <1
6:2diPAP ------ <1
FOSAA ------ <1
PFOSA 1 <1
6:2 FTS 49 ------
PFHpS 7.1 ------
PFPeS 20 ------
8:2 FTS 4.8 ------
Totals 704.3 148.5
* PFUnA reduces serum testosterone levels during pubertal exposure
**PFDoA induces cognitive deficits in adult rats.
ANG data from - FINAL EXPANDED SITE INSPECTION REPORT FOR PER- AND POLY-FLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES (PFAS) AT THE BURLINGTON AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE SOUTH BURLINGTON, VERMONT.
Military Poisons data from a $79 Cyclopure PFAS test kit. Results using these kits have been similar to results from the Maryland Dept. of the Env. when taken from the same locations.