State regulators will give an update Thursday night on drinking water contamination in Bedford, in the first of a series of upcoming public meetings around the Saint-Gobain plastics factory in Merrimack.
Saint-Gobain first notified the state in 2016 that it had emitted unsafe levels of toxic PFAS chemicals, affecting drinking water wells in an area that's grown to include more than 4,000 homes and businesses in multiple towns.
Saint-Gobain has paid for new water sources for hundreds of those properties. They face a class-action lawsuit from nearby residents and are under a state consent decree to install a combuster for PFAS air emissions by July 30.
Thursday night’s virtual public meeting for Bedford will be the first with a focus outside Merrimack in about three years. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and residents will be able to ask questions. To register and access the meeting online, click here.
A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Services says they’re planning similar meetings soon in Litchfield, Londonderry, Merrimack and potentially Amherst.
Clarification: An earlier version of this article referred to the upgrade Saint-Gobain must make by July 30 as a "scrubber." The factory will first install a combustion device, then test to see if a separate scrubber is necessary. This story has been updated.
