Texico wells being tested for PFAS

A Texico water well that tested positive for PFAS contamination remains turned off while the city tests remaining wells for PFAS chemicals.

The council decided in a special meeting to leave its Tower well, which has been shut off since October, while the city tested the city’s other water wells for PFAS, according to minutes of the meeting.

The Tower well test showed PFAS chemicals at a level of 70 parts per billion, the minutes read.

The Tower well tested positive for PFAS contaminants in two tests in February and in December 2021 at levels between 28.7 and 32.4 parts per trillion. Two other wells tested at those times returned negative results, according to a letter to city officials from the New Mexico Environment Department’s Drinking Water Bureau.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a Lifetime Health Advisory for two PFAS compounds of 70 parts per trillion individually or combined.

There are no federal or state standards for maximum allowed PFAS contamination, however, and followup actions are left to individual water systems.

Three wells received testing — the Meeks Pivot Well, Well No. 2 (Tower well) and Well No. 4 (KKR well), with all three tested Feb. 9 and the last two also tested Dec. 16.

Neither the Environment Department letter nor the Jan. 3 meeting minutes listed a potential source of the PFAS chemicals.

Minutes of the Jan. 3 city council meeting show city employees told the council that a reverse osmosis process could filter out PFAS chemicals, but it would be expensive.

Yearly testing for PFAS would cost $900 per well, the minutes said.